


Love Is Far Too Complicated

by twofaced_tRader



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Aqours, Cheating, Drama, F/F, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Kissing, School
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-10 14:33:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 20,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12913905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twofaced_tRader/pseuds/twofaced_tRader
Summary: Hanamaru is familiar with the concept called ‘love’, but what she doesn’t realise is that love almost never stops for one person.Kanan knows that the very foundation of human nature is imperfection, but faults of all sorts are found in everybody, including herself.Dia just wants something different, the price of her want is heavier than she imagined.Mari thinks she is prepared, to her, charging in initially seems promising, but the first fight is never most difficult.Ruby is aware that life can be tough, she doesn’t know whether she has it in herself to face the challenges.





	1. Chapter 1: Hanamaru

“Can I come over to your house Ruby-chan? We could do our homework together.” 

Hanamaru didn’t know when the feelings started to develop, but every time they were together, she would love every single minute of it. They were rarely alone together and the time they spent was mostly short, so it made sense to love every moment they had.

“Yeah sure, I could use your help on a couple of things.”

 

_The rules of love never strictly depicted that this was something that was bad, or rather a better word for it, forbidden, but then again, there had never really been a big book of rules in the first place. You can’t help yourself falling in love, right?_

 

They hung around the bus stop patiently waiting for the next bus, due usually right after the end of school. The two of them stood there holding their wet umbrellas in hand, as it had rained earlier this morning, they hadn’t dried off properly yet. Maru held Ruby’s hand with a light grip, Ruby’s hand was significantly colder than her own but she didn’t mind it really. Something, presumably her phone, vibrated in Ruby’s bag, she let go of Maru’s to take it out.

Ruby sighed expectedly seeing the text she had received, she turned to Maru to explain its contents. “Ah, Onee-chan is coming home late again today.” 

 

_How cruel these feelings were, if only she had eyes for Maru and her alone. Maru had used to get jealous during these times, sometimes feeling left out, other times she bore with it._

 

Spotting the bus in the distance, Maru tapped Ruby on the shoulder and they scrambled to fish out their purses. Once the bus had arrived, both of them swiped their bus cards and sat down near the rear of the bus.

The whir of the bus engine was low and rusty, it was always this bus that came at this time of the day. Maru felt as if she had ridden enough buses to be able to distinguish between them just by their engine noises. The noise had always given Ruby a little headache, so Maru was used to her leaning on her shoulder, it wasn’t unusual at all.

 

_Why must love be so complicated? Does it have to be so perplexing, not straight to the point or clear? Where was the formula to solving this problem?_

__

_She couldn’t exactly put her finger on why these feelings had come to surface, nor did she know why this lasted as long as it had._

__

_Time ticks on, a new person is born, another dies, these feelings should not have come, but she wouldn’t downright deny them either._

 

“H-Hanamaru-chan, come on! We’ll miss our stop!” Ruby shook Maru’s shoulder alarmed, the bus was already waiting right at the stop, the bus driver was looking behind shooting them an impatient look. “Ah..sorry.”

 

Homework this, homework that, it was good that they were trying to get as much of this summer homework done as soon as they could, but it was pretty pointless since Maru could barely concentrate sitting in Ruby’s house.

 

_Love is like following a small yellow butterfly in a field of beautiful flowers, the butterfly is flying around, if you keep following it, you’ll encounter some of the same flowers, and sometimes you'll see new, different, interesting and refreshing ones. Those are the ones you're glad to see because they stand out from the rest of same old plain flowers you've been seeing for a while. You'll never quite know where you’ll end up if you follow your heart._

 

Ruby was humming a cute little tune, usually she hummed the songs of popular idols but this time she hummed a lullaby that she liked. She sat with ease doing her homework happily without question, she was getting better than she was from last year. 

The sun was dipping over the horizon, the Kurosawas had a beautiful seaside view overlooking the harbour and Mt Fuji, Maru could stare at this stunning view for pretty much eternity.

But since it was summer, the sun looming over meant that it was getting late, hence Hanamaru needed to get back home. 

 

_She wasn’t ready to leave yet, she wanted to do something, she would rather not feel lonely on her way back. Maybe whatever she wanted would happen, maybe it wouldn’t._

 

“Hey Hanamaru-chan, can I...kiss you?”

Looks like Ruby wanted to be get closer.

She closed her books and crawled over to other side where Maru sat, there was a sort of hungry and curious spark hidden in her eyes, the same eyes that could hold deep determination within them. Maru loved this assertiveness, whether it was from Ruby...or not. She opened her arm and let the smaller girl sit on her lap, they looked into each deeply. Not much was to be said, it could have been said that they both knew what each other wanted, but it couldn’t have been possible for Ruby to know Maru truly wanted, from the deepest corner of her heart.

“Are you okay with this?” She asked not knowing why, maybe she required a solid answer or at least confirmation, she was so unsure of things that perhaps she naturally started to ask questions. “Of course I am. I don’t want to be so demanding and all but...I really want you.” The pigtailed girl had replied with an uneasy and nervous tone, she was always careful trying not to overextend. This was because she was the one who confessed to Maru.

Their lips locked in one swift motion, a faint reminiscence of Ruby’s strawberry lip gloss stuck to Maru’s lips.

 

_It doesn’t feel right. Feelings like these shouldn’t matter now should they? But even then, knowing fully well, she continued. Even if it didn’t feel_

__

 

__

_Good._

 

The two continued to engage, their kisses were not particularly rough, but far more dirtier and messier than before. Certainly more experimental than ever. Ruby’s back bumped into the table causing her to sacrifice a hand to keep her stability, instead of helping to take care Maru’s clothes, it was rather hard to keep going at it with one hand. Ruby had started to whimper and groan from their make out, her face was all hot and red, they had never gone this far up till now, but it wasn’t anything new for Maru, in fact, she could say that she had gotten rather good at it.

“H-ha Hanamaru-chan, let’s go fur—”

The mood was abruptly interrupted when an all too familiar voice echoed up from the front door. “Ruby! I’m back! Is Hanamaru-san with you?” There wasn’t a second thought that trailed into Ruby’s head getting off Maru’s lap, she rushed to the doorway to giving a cheerful reply. “Hi Onee-chan! Hanamaru-chan is here with me right now.”

“Ah that’s great, I needed to talk to her.” Dia’s voice echoed through the hallway, very loud and clear, she was quite used to making herself heard.

Maru helped Ruby put her clothes back on as well as her own, after which they returned to their work ignoring the fact that they had been interrupted, or at least one party had tried to. 

Around half an hour later, around the time the Kurosawa's would have dinner, the two girls begun to finish up for the day. Ruby twirled her fingers around with a slight impatience but at least she was happy to spend a little time with Maru. She looked towards the other girl, who was cleaning up her books and putting them back into her bag. With a hopeful tone, she asked: “Are you sure you can’t stay for dinner? The chefs will be cooking some of your favourites for tonight.”

Maru looked up from cramming her books into her bag, she thought for a moment before giving her answer. “Sorry Ruby-chan, I have to pass on that today.”

Disappointed, the redhead visibly drooped in response, oh well. Maru stood up and headed towards the doorway. “Ah wait I’ll with you for a little Hanamaru-chan.” As usual, every time Maru would come over, Ruby would walk with her for a couple of minutes before finally saying goodbye. But such would not be the case for today when the president walked by. 

“Are you leaving now, Hanamaru-san? Actually before you go, I’d like to talk with you in private.” Dia stopped them in their tracks easily with her calm and collected expression, she was now dressed in casual attire, a tee and some comfortable leggings. She patted Ruby on the head before giving her a settling smile, “It’s nothing special, only a couple of minutes Ruby.” Maru agreed and let herself be leading to Dia’s room, the latter signalled for Ruby to stay outside, in which she obediently nodded and slid the door closed after them.

_Sometime in the past, a younger a littler Maru had wondered what her future would be like, what her job would be, her potential love life, who her friends were and if she had any rivals or enemies. No part of that short ponder had ever questioned her high school life, maybe she had automatically thought that it was going to be fine. Perhaps her mind had blanked out that part of the future, who knows. But if she were to have seen this moment in time, god knows what she would think._

 

Dia had quite a spacious room, her room was lit up by a single lamp, and because it was so spacious, it seemed as if the darkness was much more pronounced than it really was. The room had a simplistic feel to it but still bragged traditional pieces and decor, from the moment you entered it, you could instantly tell that it was Dia Kurosawa’s bedroom.

“Why so late from school? Dia-san?” Maru didn’t hesitate to ask, she kept her voice down.

Dia looked downwards before replying to her, “I was with...with Kanan.” Her eyes would not connect with Maru’s, but Maru knew this, she wasn’t angry. 

Maru wasn’t mad, she wasn’t. How could she? She turned away from Dia toward the door. “Right, I see. Look, I’ll be on my way of that all-”

“Wait. Hanamaru-san, please...it won’t be long.” Dia had almost lost her cool and had grasped Maru’s hand, gripping it firmly wishing for her to not leave. Her eyes were full of longing, as if she had been waiting for this all day.

 

_How could Maru say no?_

__

 

__

_This was not the first time._

__

 

__

_Nor would it be the last._

 

It didn’t take more than a second after her reply for them to connect, their lips interlocked into a fierce battle of kissing, softened moans fled out of their mouths. Dia’s hand had clenched tightly onto Maru’s hip, bringing her and her body closer. Maru had instinctively tried to reach underneath Dia’s tee in order to get to her bra hooks, her hands were pushed away as Dia pointed at the door stopping her from going too far. 

The two of them could feel each other’s passion and newfound love for each other, even if they had other lovers, all they could think about was each other and the steamy action between them. To put it simply, they thought of themselves together as ‘recharging’ almost, just something different from the usual. They tried to keep it secret of course.

Maru found herself biting lightly on Dia’s lips, prompting some all too nice sounding noises from the president. She wished that this could go on forever, this warmth was indifferent from Ruby’s, perhaps a family thing, but the sensation was completely different.

 

_Who said that love was restricted to one? There was no way you could get the most out of life by staying with just one. How could Maru so foolishly believe that? Regardless if this was considered bad or not, she made it worth it, she made the long weeks and days easier to bear with. Perhaps this thought itself would be considered as far fetched for Maru. But people make changes easily but then they find it hard to change back._

 

Dia’ aggressive make out had pushed Maru towards Dia’s desk, making her bump into it and causing a loud thump.

“Onee-chan, are you okay?” Called Ruby from outside, the door was slowly being opened, Maru and Dia had broken off and separated to make themselves less suspicious. The thing that has caused a loud thump was a book that had fallen onto ground, Maru scurried to pick it up and place back onto the desk while Dia tried her best to make herself seem not suspicious. The good thing was that their clothes and hair didn’t sell them out.

Still confused to what happened, the littler Kurosawa looked toward her sister for an explanation. “Ah-uh! I accidentally tipped this book Ruby-chan, and besides, we’re done talking.” Maru had instead chimed in, Dia gave her affirming nod but her face has still slightly flustered from their make out.

“Goodnight Hanamaru-san, thank you for coming to talk to me.” Dia mumbled still hot. Ruby, who was oblivious to it, smiled and waved her sister quick one. Maru still hungry for more was reluctant to go but had no choice. “See you soon, Dia-san.”

 

The cool evening breeze really helped to lessen the summer heat, even though autumn was coming, Uchiura was bound to be moderately warm for another week or two. Since the bus that Maru took to get back home didn’t stop at the bus stop near the Kurosawa household, the couple strolled down the pavement to the next bus stop, not much further down the road. As usual, they held hands as the neared the bus stop, it was about time for Ruby to head back. Sometimes the bus would take a while to come and it could get quite lonely without Ruby, but today, Maru was satisfied and was even smiling to herself.

Ruby noticed Maru’s smirk and gave a cheeky grin herself. “What are you smiling about?” Maru who was not expecting Ruby to say anything, was slightly taken aback, but managed to hide it. “I was just thinking that coming over to your house is always fun.” Maru whispered softly and giggling embarrassed.

Lucky for Maru, the bus she would take turned the corner and made itself visible. “The stars aren’t so clear tonight, well I guess it did just rain this morning, but surely it would have cleared up by now.” Ruby sighed as the bus arrived. They hugged each other and exchanged their goodbyes, Ruby wasn’t in the mood to kiss again after what had happened this afternoon.

Maru waved fatigued behind the window as the bus drove past Ruby.

 

_For something so sinful, what will she have to pay for what she has done? She couldn’t bring herself to stop, it was far too late for that now._


	2. Chapter 2: Kanan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a different perspective everything, something which Kanan is very aware of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *messes up Chapter Publication Date (it was set to the last time I updated this work)
> 
> Ahaha wow I’m just...okay sorry this was originally meant to come out on Christmas Day but yeah I screwed that a little
> 
>  
> 
> Original:
> 
> Merry Christmas everyone ;D I hope you all having a great time with your families whereever you are. Or you might be alone. Either way have a great Christmas, we’ll almost be at new year damn.
> 
> So I didn’t work on anything for Christmas, which again I’d like to apologize for since I’ve been very busy recently (even with Christmas!)
> 
> So please enjoy this small chapter, I might make something short for new years? Lmaoooo

Kanan was good at swimming. Actually, ‘good’ was far too much of an understatement. She was the best in the school, her skills outshone almost everybody’s, anyone who was lured into watching her swim were always impressed if they weren’t already declaring their rivalry to Kanan. Apart from that, recently, Kanan had found herself going to the student council room instead of going to the swim club after school had ended. Everyone in the swim club knew about Kanan’s relationship status, taken. If Kanan wasn’t already impressive enough with her charming looks, bombass body and the swimming skills to maybe take her to the nationals, she had managed to swipe the Student Council President, Dia, another beauty with brains to back her personality. 

Practically everyone was swooning in for attention from their favourite senpai, but she didn’t let them distract her from what was important to her.

 

_It was just a hunch. A totally unsupported theory for something unproven and lacking in sufficient evidence. A feeling that we use to suspect something off, strange, unfamiliar. Nonetheless, this hunch of Kanan’s...it felt like sphere that had tiny bump in it, an imperfection to its beauty._

_She wasn’t really the type to think so much, but this was something that had never occured during their 2 year and counting relationship. In fact, Dia had been mostly compliant, they barely had any fights or arguments, not that Kanan thought that that was going to happen this time._

 

Kanan perched herself up on the student council desk, Dia gave a slight disapproving look but let her sit anyway. As ever, she did her council work in silence, working through the workload with her unsurprising efficiency. As a matter of fact, the stack of papers looked lighter than yesterday, they didn’t spend as much time together yesterday, perhaps today she would finish earlier.

Kanan yawned tediously, her hands were gripped tightly to the edge of the desk she was sat on and her legs flailing around and about out of boredom. “Are you almost done Dia? You’ve been working for about half an hour, at least, take a break already.”

Dia glanced up from the work, she shuffled a few things from her desk to clear it, “Alright alright, oh! I forgot to text Ruby that I’ll be late home again I should proba-”

_“Why don’t you spend some time with me first?”_

Dia froze in her position completely, taken slightly aback by Kanan’s hastiness. “F-Fine.”

Kanan decided not to question Dia’s reaction as she had been a tad bit paranoid as of late. She twisted around to face Dia properly, waiting for her to finish putting away various objects. She proceeded to push off from the desk with a slight smirk, Dia stood up and put her relaxed hands on Kanan’s shoulders, even when Kanan sat on the desk, there was still a little height difference between their faces. In return came Kanan’s arms around Dia’s waist bringing her closer toward herself. 

Kanan tilted her head to the left, a brief pause followed when Dia eventually did the same, their lips slowly inched closer. It was a small kiss which eventually lead to another, and another, and even more trailed behind.

Kanan was really getting into it when she realised that Dia was softly pushing her downwards into the desk. 

“H-Hey Dia, slow down a little. Can we switch places now?”

 

_Kanan felt strongly that she was the dominant one, she had her reasons for thinking so, one of which was that the underclassmen had always seen her as the butch senpai who made all the girls fall head over heels for her, using her ‘ikemen’ charm to put everyone in a trance, or something like that.._

 

Dia stopped holding Kanan by the shoulders, red faced and with a slightly dissatisfied look, she switched places and was now sitting on the desk while Kanan stood.

 

_Another reason was that she loved to hear Dia’s soft moans and all the noises she made.._

 

Kanan continued their smooch session, gradually, now she was the one pushing Dia down.

 

_There were a few other reasons, but the main one was that she was simply insecure._

_Ironic right?_

_She was afraid that Dia wouldn’t like her for whatever reason, maybe she would somehow embarrass herself, in fact the whole being submissive part was embarrassing in itself. Maybe she was overthinking it, but she just wasn’t comfortable in being that role._

_She had always assumed a dominant role. And just like then, she would switch if Dia was about to get the upper hand on her._

_Kanan had assumed that Dia was okay with it, she never said anything at all in protest, but that may have been the reason why she had not been so engaging recently._

 

Kanan was done with the kissing for now, she tried to push Dia right down onto the desk but she was not letting her do so. It seemed as if she was distracted by something, was she looking at something?

Dia’s eyes were not fastened onto Kanan, her cyan eyes simply looked over her.

Kanan was getting a little annoyed, what could she possibly be looking at now at all times? “Dia. What are you looking at.” Kanan said slightly irritated.

Dia was in a trance but snapped out of it when she heard Kanan’s words. “Oh no I...sorry I was thinking about something else.” She apologized still sounding distracted. Kanan looked back for herself, all she could see were a flow of students exiting the school premises, nothing out of ordinary there.

Displeased, Kanan stopped completely, crossing her arms with a pained expression. “Look, if you’re looking out for your sister, that’s fine go send her that message.”

“W-Wait Kanan—”

“Look I don’t want to continue until you’re back to normal, clearly your head has been out of the clouds. I’m going to go back to the swim club for now.”

“Kanan I think you’re misunderstanding something here.”

Her fists clenched tightly, demanding her answer, “What is it then? Why have you been so distracted lately?”

Dia backed away from saying anything, worried that whatever she would say would be fired back at her. She resigned and looked away in a slight panic.

 

_Every second of silence was agony, an invisible hand that had taken her heart and had begun to rip it apart, slowly, slowly, a gaping crack was forming. Had she been correct about her suspicions, she didn’t know what she would do._

 

Trying to abstain from seeming sad, Kanan simply walked out of the Student Council in a suppressed rush. From a somewhat controlled walk to a volatile and unpredictable run. Straight out of the campus she continued, until she couldn’t run anymore. 

Warm tears streamed down her face, with nothing on her, she hastily wiped her tears with her hands and sleeve.

 

_She hadn’t received the answer, but it was evident enough for her to come to the conclusion that she never hoped to happen. She wanted to deny it, say that it wasn’t true, that this would never happen. Helplessly, all she could think about was..._

_who was the other?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah I hope you enjoyed reading as usual, have a merry christmas!
> 
>  
> 
> Boxing Day me:
> 
> Yay I’ll get those little new years shorts out!


	3. Chapter 3: Dia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Kanan’s realisation, Dia has been left alone to herself, her thoughts and looming guilt that bears its weight upon her shoulders.

_They say that a change of the smallest detail could lead to vastly different changes and futures, something of that sort of which Dia had heard of it as the Butterfly Effect. She learned of it after discovering an uprising idol group named Butterfly Effect and had wondered what it meant._

_She never thought of it much, it was just a concept after all. But what had just happened got her thinking of it. If she had said something instead of staying silent. Or it would have stayed the same. Her actions would have been louder than her words at that time._

_But maybe that was the catalyst to the eventual end of their relationship._

 

She sat silently at her desk. Unable to comprehend the effect of her actions, she was at a complete loss of what to do. Behind her from outside, heavy and quick footsteps faded distantly away.

She tried to not let her personal emotions get too out of hand, specifically in public spaces, but there was no way she could soften her sobs anymore. 

 

_She never wanted to end it, she was perfectly fine with Kanan._

_But as time went on, she found herself wanting something...different. She knew that Kanan wasn’t going to change her ways, always being dominant, always the one on top. She just…_

_She just wanted to try something else, sort of like when she was a kid, she wanted to try something else and that’s how her obsession with idols came from._

 

Dia pushed her bag closer with her foot, unbothered about being proper, and reached in to find a new message on her phone. For the split second that her eyes set upon it, she hoped, really hoped that it was Kanan, that they would be able to work something out and not go their separate ways.

‘Onee-chan? Are you coming home late again?’

She laughed depressingly to herself, for once she didn’t care so much about her little sister. Normally she would’ve been at her wits end making sure her precious Ruby was safe and informed. But then again, this wasn’t _normally_.

 

_There was one point in her life where she and Ruby would occasionally visit a local ice cream parlour, which was now closed down, Dia would always get matcha flavoured ice cream. Everytime it was “Hello ma’am, may I please have one scoop of matcha ice cream?” or “The usual please.” or just “Matcha.”. Every single time they went, it was always matcha and everytime the kind old lady managing the register would ask; “Would you like to try another flavour?”._

_Dia had never tasted any of whatever Ruby had since she had been so insistent on having “the pure taste of the matcha ice cream”, she was never sick of it._

_It then occurred to her after one too far many matcha ice creams, what did the other flavours taste like? So at first, she tried mango ice cream._

_After that she couldn’t get rid of the wonderful image that mango ice cream had burnt into her mind, so sweet yet mouth watering, it was for a brief period of time that she had her obsession with mango ice cream._

_She still liked matcha ice cream but this mango ice cream was so...addictive._

_It was the thing she didn’t even know she longed for, it helped her feel more satisfied than matcha ever did._

_Unfortunately, the parlour then closed._

 

She collapsed onto the table, there was no more strength in her body, any energy simply melted away, she was burnt out.

Her eyes could no longer concentrate, she shut them for all she cared.

 

It was dark already, Dia wasn’t sure when she had fallen asleep, her phone was still in her hand. The bright LED light phased her slightly as she squinted to adjust, a couple of messages from Ruby and a bunch of missed calls from her and Hanamaru. It was almost funny that none of the notification sounds woke her up, maybe her body had shut itself to recover, shielding itself from the outside.

She pressed the on/off button off her phone, and continued to rest her head upon her arms. She un-energetically slid her phone across the other end of her desk in a half angry and despaired rage. How did things end up this way?

She achingly got herself to her feet, she had dreadful headache, as if she wasn’t feeling worse enough. She managed to slump herself onto the window still where she was able to see the few stars that persisted through the clouds. 

 

_Dia’s fortune for today was supposed to be good, did the stars misguide her? Was it God’s intentions to give her what she deserved?_

 

Two students ran across the courtyard despite the time, they held each other’s hands as they reached the entrance of the campus. Dia watched intently with a certain repulsion while they kissed and parted ways. Very funny.

A vibration noise followed by Dia’s ringtone sounded behind her, the default ringtone was an annoyance to her ears but she never tried changing it. She picked it up, it was Hanamaru.

 _“Dia-san? Where have you been?”_ It was clear that with the worried tone she used, Hanamaru was indeed gravely concerned. _“Do you know how many times we ca—”_

“Yes I know, I’m sorry. I...I fell asleep at school.”

_“What? Alright well—I’m here with Ruby-chan, she’s really worried about you.”_

“It’s...I just…”

_“Is it something to do with Kanan-san?”_

Silence. How painstaking this was.

_“...Tell me about it later. Just come home, okay?”_

The call ended with a click.

 

_Both the illness and the cure, Hanamaru was the only person she was able to go to now._

 

Dusting off herself, she packed her things and headed home. A place where the ones who loved her awaited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ehehe i wish i was better at conveying emotions im not a very emotional person oh well
> 
> I hope you enjoyed reading so far! See you guys in February (or later) since I def don't have anything to post in these last couple days of the first month of 2018.


	4. Chapter 4: Mari

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mari finds Kanan sitting alone on the beach, teary-eyed and curled up.

It just wasn’t fair of Dia to just request some supplies for the student council room all last minute like that, well Mari didn’t mind dropping in Numazu for a quick shop, but where was the fun when she could have used that time to more important things, such as hit on a few of the first years or what she was initially going to do had Dia not asked her, peep on some juicy KanaDia (even if DiaKanan sounded more natural, Kanan was on top after all). If Dia had really gotten out her way just to distract Mari then that meant she was really missing something!

Although...it seemed liked the two were going through a rough patch. Hopefully things would work out for them.

 

_She was long aware that her two very best friends, ones she would die for, had feelings for each other, perhaps she knew before they realised themselves._

_A habit of hers was to prioritize her friends over herself, upon learning them officially coming out as a couple, she acted supportive when inside she was pretty damn jealous._

_For as long as she could remember, she had always loved her friends but she knew that deep inside her human heart, her feelings for Kanan were different from Dia. It was a subtle but noticeable difference that slightly unsettled Mari._

_It was difficult to act supportive to their relationship when a burning impatient flame inside her yearned for Kanan’s heart, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell them, afraid that this would create a rupture within their group. So she had no choice but to play along._

 

A little walk like this did Mari some good since she was often holed up in her office doing some work, she did take the chairman's position but sort of wished it was a less sedentary kind of job. Her father would also be concerned about her safety and made sure she was at least driven around when she was alone so a little did do her a little good.

Walking in Uchiura was basically all scenery and Mari was happy to stroll around since the breathtaking views never go away.

There was someone sitting, wait curled up into a ball on the beach. Strange as it seemed that person was wearing the Uranohoshi uniform but it wasn’t clear who it was.

Once Mari had gotten closer, she instantly realised who it was. Beautiful azure coloured hair that flowed with the breeze gave it away.

“Kanan? What are you doing here?”

Kanan’s head whipped around to see the concerned Mari, her eyes her red and watery, a betrayed scowl frown from her showed Mari that she was not in the mood to talk. She looked back down and resumed her curled position.

Mari had a faint idea of the cause but wanted to hear it from Kanan herself, she sat herself down next to Kanan with a moderate distance between them, the kind of distance that was close but gave enough for space for emotions to, well, happen.

She set aside the ‘running low’ supplies, and asked softly, “Did something happen?”. The only thing she got in response was an angry sniff. “Alright so something did happen.”

Kanan was still responseless, if she was going to be like that, Mari had to be a little more...blunt. She opened her mouth to speak but hesitated not wanting to hurt Kanan. 

No, the best thing for her was to let Kanan talk about it to her besides, Mari was her best friend, if she couldn’t get her BFF to open up, there was no way they could be considered besties at all.

“Kanan,” She went on getting to the point, she started to slightly regret opening her mouth again but this was for the sake of Kanan. “What happened between you and Dia?”

This time Kanan looked up from her arms, she looked so terribly hurt, if only Mari could sweep her away and..

“I-It’s...none of your business.”

 

_‘None of your business.’_

_What a harsh thing to say._

_Was it really none of her business?_

 

Suddenly feeling attacked and in a state of panic, Mari stood up and grabbed her plastic bags. “I’m sorry for bothering you Kanan, I’ll be going no—”

“Wait! I didn’t mean it like that—argh...just stay please.”

 

_Oh god. Kanan’s desperate face needed Mari’s protecting, what a mesmerizing sight..._

 

“Mari?”

Mari snapped out of her daze, “Oh uh...fine.” She sat back down to exactly where she had sat before. She raised an eyebrow at Kanan with a little impatience, just get out with it already!

“You’re right, we sort of had a...fight? I’m not sure what to do now.”

Mari’s super intuition was correct obviously, but jokes aside, if Kanan was at a loss of what to do then it must have been a pretty bad fight.

 

_Wait hang on a moment, this is was her chance right?_

 

“I actually found out that...well…” Kanan took a deep breath before continuing, something bad (good) was about to come out of her mouth. “I found out that Dia might be cheating on me.”

 

_Oh my god. That’s shocking. For Dia to cheat…_

_Alright alright, if she played this correctly, Mari could potentially win some points with Kanan._

 

“That’s terrible...are you sure?” Mari asked trying her best to be sympathetic when at the same time she was shocked at the thought of Dia cheating, angry at the thought of her cheating on Kanan and as a friend and almost excited for her chance.

Kanan nodded biting her lips from the unsavoury thought, her left hand dived deep into the cool sand, some of it even shooting up from the force she had hit it with.

Mari took a deep breath herself, prepared for what was to possibly come. “Look Kanan. I’m here for you,” she started with a soothing soft tone, “I’ll always be here for for you, I’ll be at your side for however long you want me to.”

 

_Wow that was super cool. What will Kanan think of it?_

 

Mari shuffled herself closer to Kanan, to the point where their shoulders were barely touching, she almost leaned her head on Kanan’s shoulder on impulse, but she waited for Kanan to do that instead.

Blushing slightly, Kanan rested her head on Mari’s shoulder, who sensed that Kanan was assured by her presence. “Thank you Mari.”

 

_Mari had only ever dreamed of this moment, one of those things she’d think of when she touched herself. It was magical to be in._

_But…_

 

Mari started to get a little nervous when she suddenly realised how hard her heart was beating, a little scared if Kanan could feel it, and what she would think.

But Mari was pretty convinced that her current odds were good enough, there was no way Kanan would turn her down…

 

_At this rate, things wouldn’t escalate unless she made something happen. Mari could feel herself getting slightly impatient since what she wanted was practically a move away._

_Impatience was her enemy, another feature of hers, that could lead her to an unwanted outcome._

_But here goes nothing._

 

“Kanan?”

As Mari expected, Kanan lifted her drained head slightly, perfect.

Taking Kanan’s chin with her right hand and pulling it closer to her face, their lips intersected in an elegant way that made it seem they were made for each other. A muffled confused sound came from Kanan, who was alarmed at both the sudden move, and the fact that she was becoming the bottom to Mari.

Her left hand pushed weakly onto Mari’s chest, who in return with her left hand grabbed Kanan’s hips bringing her closer and kissing her even more vividly. Kanan stopped fighting back after she realised she couldn’t get out of her submissive position, Mari explore her lips and mouth.

“M-Mari…” Kanan meekly breathed out, she gazed confusedly into Mari, who put a finger to Kanan’s mouth. “Let’s continue this later, perhaps, somewhere else, Kanan.”

 

_A reward for successfully hunting down the target, a job well done she could say so herself._

_A new mission has appeared, a high risk high reward, requiring enough preparation to be executed at least somewhat decent._

_Challenge accepted._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love bringing out different possible sides of the characters. I'm sure that all of us have thought of another person and thought of a different side of them, whether or not it's real or not. Anyhow, hope you've been enjoying the story thus far :)


	5. Chapter 5: Ruby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby really wants to help her sister, but really doesn’t have the knowledge nor experience to do so, but even without those things, its clear that something is a little off.

_As soon as Ruby was old enough to understand, she knew right from the start Dia’s feelings for Kanan. She observed Dia’s behaviour with and without Kanan, and was very aware of her habits when alone._

_It didn’t take long before Ruby herself wanted a love like her big sis, it seemed like such a mature thing, love._

_She wanted it even more when Dia and Kanan finally affirmed their feelings for each other._

 

An attendant wearing the Kurosawa kimono entered the room where Ruby and Maru, who was here to sleepover with Ruby, sat patiently yet anxiously sipping their cups of tea, the room where they were, a guest room that was a little further away from the front door, was the reason why the attendant had come.

Bowing down with respect, she presented them her message, “Ruby-sama, Dia-sama has arrived.”

“Ah-uh thank you, we’ll get going.” Ruby mumbled with a nod.

“Of course.” The attendant replied leaving the room. The second she had left, Maru was up on her feet, worried about Dia’s late arrival. “C’mon now.” She murmured impatiently, evident from the erratic tap of her foot. Ruby arose to her feet signalled them to leave.

They rushed through the corridors of the large Kurosawa household, each step brought Ruby closer to her dear older sister, this time on the receiving end of being taken care of.

 

_Being honest, Ruby was scared of not finding a love, with the whole highschool thing, it seemed like finding love was the norm, she just wanted to be at least a little normal._

_Perhaps the reason she never found a true love for such a lengthy period of time was because of what happens when you fall out of love._

_Silly reason but Ruby felt that as unwanted pressure to add to everything else she was afraid of._

 

“Onee-chan. Are you alright?” Ruby looked toward her sister, a broken and disgruntled mess, quite the opposite of her usual self. Dia was on the verge of tears, she struggled to keep her chin up and make any direct eye contact. What she needed was hug.

Taken a tad aback by Ruby’s sudden closeness, Dia hugged her back tightly and mouthed, “Let’s be alone.”

“How about Hanamaru-chan?” Ruby asked looked behind her to see Maru with her arms crossed taking in and processing the state of which Dia was in, she looked up wondering what Ruby meant.”

“She can come.. if she wants.”

 

_Was it best to have someone you treasure by your side during these times? Or maybe more familiar faces?_

_Dia was usually Ruby’s protector, the one who kept her safe, made sure all her needs were fulfilled. This time it was Ruby’s turn to return the favor, to be the shoulder that Dia leaned upon in her time of dire need._

 

Inside of Dia’s chambers, the illuminated seaview accompanied by the moon mixed its light with the soft warm glow of the lanterns. Needless to say, Dia was not so telling.

“Tell us what happened Dia-san.” Maru went bluntly, Ruby still wasn’t quite sure why Maru was here, it was nice of her to calm Dia down, but that wasn’t exactly what she was doing being so straightforward like that. Besides, why would she be interested in what happened to Dia?

Perched upon the open window of her room, Dia didn’t face them, she probably didn’t want to. “I...I think my relationship with Kanan has..has..” her voice trailed off, scared of ending the sentence. 

“Onee-chan…” 

 

_What do you do in this situation? Think Ruby, think._

 

“A-Are you sure...onee-chan?” She twirled her fingers, wondering if it was appropriate or not to hold Maru’s hand for support. Dia sinked a little in her position, “I don’t know Ruby..what do I do?” 

The air was wasn’t thick, but that’s what it felt like in Ruby’s throat, it was hard to swallow even, it was making her want to sink into the ground. 

“Move on.”

The usually silent Hanamaru had spoken, a somewhat reasoning voice came from her, Ruby looked toward her lover with a frightened panic in her eye unsure if that was the right thing to say, in fact she was unsure whether Maru really should have been here in this first place.

A soft but audible knock gained the attention of the couple, they both looked back and Maru nodded to Ruby meaning she would see to it. Dia didn’t even move a muscle as she stared distantly into the view. Ruby moved herself next to Dia but didn’t say anything, a shallow but pleasant breeze blew in to their faces and shaking the leaves on the trees.

Ruby tried hard not to look at her older sister but couldn’t help the slight look, after all she was curious to what face Dia wore. From the small glimpses she managed to catch, she looked...disappointed, a face of hers only seen when she was upset with herself but surprisingly she didn’t seem as sad as Ruby thought she might’ve been.

 

_“Ruby, there’s no point getting sad over something like that. Surely you can take this as an opportunity to improve and learn from your mistakes.”_

_“Do you make mistakes onee-chan?”_

_“Of course, everyone one does Ruby.”_

_Dia was right, there wasn’t any point getting sad over a bad test score or a fight with a friend, but if Ruby was disappointed, Dia would usually say that an improvement could be made or something along those lines._

_But when you are separated from a lover, the normal reaction would be sadness wouldn’t it?_

 

“Dia-san, Ruby-chan, dinner is ready.” Hanamaru tapped lightly on Ruby’s shoulder which made her jump a little. She looked to Dia but it was clear that she didn’t want to leave this room.

Ruby shook her head, she whispered softly; “Look, Hanamaru-chan, you go first, I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Taking a second to understand, Maru acknowledged the fact that Ruby wanted to talk to Dia by herself, she left without another word.

Ruby awaited for the sound of the door to be slid to a close before thinking of what to say to support her dear sister. Her face had not changed much...well maybe she looked a little more saddened, perhaps she liked the company? Either way it was Ruby’s time to give a leaning shoulder.

“Onee-chan...I-I’m always here for you. I understand that you want to be left alone to yourself but I want to make sure you know that...that you always have me!” She backed away from saying too much, ultimately she couldn’t say as much as she wanted to, but regardless the message of support and love was there.

Dia’s face changed to a weary but forced smile, a single tear trailed down her face as she looked to Ruby. “Thank you Ruby.”

 

_She looked undoubtedly pained as she mouthed her appreciation, Dia wasn’t the greatest at hiding things but this time Ruby couldn’t be sure due to the unusual circumstances. She was hiding something but at the same time maybe she wasn’t._

 

“I’ll leave now Onee-chan.” Ruby assured as she pushed away from the window frame, Dia turned back as if to say something but Ruby already knew. “Yes, I’ll tell the chefs that you would like to eat here.”

Dia, now with more genuinity, smiled knowingly. 

 

The dinner was prepared to suit more of Hanamaru’s tastes, it was always like this when Ruby had requested for it. It usually featured a few of the usual dishes but excluded noodles since Hanamaru didn’t fancy them. It wasn’t really such a big difference but at dessert, it was practically a taste test for red bean flavoured items. All of which she would eat without hesitation, she really must have a thing for red bean paste!

Ruby’s parents were not here this particular day and to add Dia’s absence there were 3 vacant seats at the table, making this practically a dinner just for Ruby and Maru. It felt quite different from when Dia was at the table eating with them, it was more...personal…

 

_Looking upon the Angel that had descended in front of her, something Maru herself would say, Ruby was felt excited to be alone with Maru since being interrupted yesterday._

_She was feeling quite ecstatic to enjoy a dinner with her girlfriend despite what had happen merely less than an hour ago._

_No matter the time or place, Hanamaru had always seemed to help Ruby out, even before they started dating, Hanamaru really helped Ruby through some tough times._

 

Maru, who was rather content with the red bean dessert platter in front of her, also seemed to be, at the same time, somewhat concerned, perhaps with what had happened with Dia.

Ruby didn’t want her to be so concerned with Dia’s personal matters, she tended to worry about others more than she should’ve, which was a good and bad thing depending on who you asked. “Hanamaru-chan, are you worried about Onee-chan?”

Maru stopped munching on a red bean pudding, and frowned with a nod. She didn’t seem as happy as Ruby was that’s for sure, Ruby sighed in response. Ruby eyed the last spoonful of Maru’s pudding and took it with her spoon, which prompted Maru to try to stop her but her reactions were far too slow and an irritated ‘hey!’. Ruby giggled playfully knowing how much Maru loved to savour the last spoonful, she placed the spoon just out of Maru’s reach where she could watch Maru claw for it eagerly.

With a sly look on her face, Ruby leaned forward so that she was close enough to her lover’s face and whispered very out of her usual character, “Heehee, you’re so funny Hanamaru-chan, I’ll let you have your last bite if you stop worrying about Onee-chan.”

With little, no, _none at all_ , hesitation, Maru stated her agreement, signalling for the pudding to come back into her possession. Her face was pretty serious and it was always a treat to see Maru’s angry determined face.

“Alright here you go.” Ruby gave up as she fed the remaining spoonful into Maru’s mouth. Maru gave her satisfied sigh of fullness as she patted her belly, the concerned look on her face eased up convincing Ruby that she was pretty sold.

“Well if we’re done, we can always...you know,” Ruby hesitated to finish her sentence, she blushed thinking about it, Maru was unsure what she meant. “..together..” 

“What did you say Ruby-chan?”

“...have a bath together..”

“Oh right I see.”

Maru didn’t really seemed to be flustered of the thought having getting in the bath again, maybe she was just used to it since they were kids. “Actually Ruby-chan I want to go outside for some air, you should go have your bath first.”

 

_Wait? What??_

 

“Oh...okay.—”

“It’s nothing, just felt like having some air. See you Ruby-chan.”

Maru excused herself and walked out of the room.

 

_Of course Maru wouldn’t give up on worrying about others that easily…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone how’s it going? Hope you enjoyed reading as usual but let me say, I was considering lifting the mature tag to an explicit tag. But that’s not really the point, it adds this uh story I guess...just expect something a little steamier next time..


	6. Chapter 6: Hanamaru

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lying to Ruby to meet with Dia, Maru has things on her mind that she needs to clear up.

_Lying was not something Maru would resort to, she and Ruby knew that very well. She hardly fibbed before but found herself doing it more recently._

_Whenever Maru questioned herself resorting to such tactics, her own thoughts would try to evade the question. But now it seemed there was an appropriate answer, one that made sense just like 1+1=2 and one that didn’t make any sense like why we call our planet Earth if it’s made up of 71.5% water._

_For this wrong seeming love, something else had to be done wrong in order for it to seem right._

_.. is what Maru imagined but it was practically a bullshit answer. She still didn’t have a proper answer for herself._

 

Maru scanned the hallway to make sure she wasn’t being so obvious as she entered the room. The occupant of the room looked up from her food only to look away saddened. She shook her head weakly almost disapprovingly. “Shouldn’t you be with Ruby and not me?” Dia responded sternly, refusing to look into Maru’s eyes.

“She’s having a bath now.”

“That’s not my point Hanamaru-san, you should be with my sister not me.”

Maru frowned trying to stand Dia’s sad state. “You just said the same thing as before.”

“We-We should stop this.” Dia sighed as she cleaned her mouth with a napkin, her hand was stopped by Maru who swiftly licked a little speck of red bean paste on Dia’s face, she reddened quickly trying to push Maru back. 

She backed away and stopped for moment, “You want to be on top don’t you?” 

 

_Although Maru prefered to be on top, with Dia she didn’t mind as much. Maru knew that Dia had some issues with Kanan, in which Maru let Dia take advantage of Maru’s flexibility._

 

Just like her sister would, Dia flustered up and nodded contrary to her previous statement. Dia reached out to try to unbutton Maru’s yellow sweater, but Maru had other ideas as she lightly brushed Dia’s hands away, “Have you really broken up with Kanan?” she put extremely bluntly, so blunt that you would have thought that Maru didn’t have any sympathy for Dia when inside it was quite the opposite.

Dia’s flush seemed to drain out of her face, she bit her lip clenching her teeth trying to resist the wave of sadness that Maru had awakened. She hesitated to provide an answer choosing instead to look at the ground with a troubled look. 

 

_A straight to the point question but not necessarily a straight to the point answer. This was a troublesome characteristic with love. You cannot simply say ‘I love them’ without some sort of reason, and that reason is never ‘because I just do’._

_If love were as literally straight to the point as an arrow, hitting targets would be so much easier._

 

Maru had a right to know, and she waited patiently until Dia was ready to explain. “I don’t think it’s over yet. But Kanan—Kanan would never forgive me for this, no matter what happens.” Maru didn’t even need to think about what she wanted to say next.

“So do you love me instead?” Maru questioned Dia with a serious stare, hoping Dia would stay true to her own feelings. 

The repeat barrage of a question seemed to overthrow Dia’s peace, she looked almost shocked to hear such a question. But before she could throw out her answer, Maru cut her off, “I love you Dia. I’m sorry if choosing you over your sister is not something you can live with but the fact still remains, I love you...but...do you love me?”

 

_The sudden confession had rattled Maru herself, not even she expected such level of honesty._

_Even if at first they were together just as a ‘change of scenery’, Maru’s numbness had faded away into these feelings, some point among the many secret encounters they had._

_These feelings weren’t static, they felt real and whole, something she struggled to accept thinking that this love wasn’t the love she was supposed to love as compared to the other love with Ruby._

_Answer Dia._

 

“Yes! I do Hanamaru-san. And I am selfish for lusting after you while you are still with Ruby.” Dia boldly confessed while bringing herself closer to Maru, theirs faces slowly grew unresistant to each other’s magnetic fields, their lips connected with a sweet kiss, especially sweet due to the red bean paste. Their kisses were conflicting powers, both fighting for dominance when Maru suddenly remembered that Dia had requested to be on top for this time, she backed down and let Dia unbutton that yellow sweaters of her’s in the way.

Before the heavy stuff was going to happen, Maru placed her hand flatly on Dia’s beating chest to stop her. “Wait wait wait, first as unofficial partners, I want you to do something for me, just as I have Dia.” Maru started casually and slightly out of breath. 

“And what is it?”

“Call me..call me Maru when we’re alone.”

“M-M-Maru…-san..”

“No honorifics, just Maru.”

“F-Fine then, Ma..ru...Maru..”

Maru dived in giving Dia a generous hug and enveloping her in her increasing heat, “Let’s continue.”

Maru began to unbutton her yellow sweater for herself but Dia stopped her, “We can’t take long, we’ll have to be quick.” Dia whispered as she pointed to the door where there seemed to be a shadow standing next the door, it quickly dashed away. “Try to be quiet.” 

 

_Maru could feel her heart beating like a drum, whenever she did these things with Dia, her heart would pound absurdly fast. Inside she was practically begging for Dia to do her or the other way round. It was a feeling of excitement that she never seemed to get with being Ruby, it was a buzz and craze of emotion, or rather, lust._

_Was it something exclusive to Dia, something she invoked? Or was it something Maru had developed for Dia? Whatever it was, Maru wanted it now._

 

Now lying on the bed, Dia was above Maru pinning her arms down in way that made Maru squirm in her place. Dia leaned closer to place some very light yet titillating kisses on Maru’s ears and neck, Maru tried her best to keep quiet but she still let a few soft moans escape her mouth.

 

_If this is what Ruby wanted when she suggested having a bath together, there was no way it would’ve felt quite as electric as this._

 

Dia placed her left hand on Maru’s right breast, Maru knew she could tell how aroused she was when she tried to pinch through all the clothes. 

“You were really waiting for this hm?” Dia whispered very close to Maru’s ear, almost just a breath, sending chills to Maru’s spine and turning her on even more.

 

_Maru loved it so much, this slight aggression and dominance, maybe it was Dia who did so right, but this would never happen with Ruby._

_Well…_

_Why did she keep thinking about Ruby?_

 

While continuing to kiss and tease Maru’s ears and neck, Dia’s hand edged downwards, tracing Maru’s bodyline over her clothes. Her nails scathed Maru’s almost untouched skin as she dragged her panties from beneath her skirt and off her legs. 

Dia’s eyes surveyed and cherished the thirsty and frenzied state Maru was in, licking her lips with a passionate smile, she took her pillow and placed it beside Maru, who wasn’t clear on what Dia’s intentions were. 

“Put your back on this pillow.” Dia helped Maru get her back to cover most of the pillow’s surface area, Maru’s head was also on the pillow, well, it was a pretty big pillow but Maru wasn’t a tall person. She was lying down that her back was flat whilst her legs were bent and wide open, leaving the entrance to Maru right in front of Dia’s eyes. “What is this for Dia..?” Maru was mad in need of some pleasuring, she could feel her pussy pulsating through her wetness.

Dia blushed thinking of whatever she was thinking, and for whatever reason, felt like it was appropriate to send a kiss to Maru’s forehead by lift her hair up. “Tell me if this is uncomfortable.” She told Maru as she hooked her arms underneath her knees, and used her reasonable strength to lift Maru’s lower half up 90 degrees up to her face, where Maru’s gleaming pussy faced her when she looked down. Since the lower half of her body had moved, so had her upper half, it moved down the pillow but Maru’s head was not in any perilous position. 

 

_What was she doing? Maru already loved the idea of being eaten, but this was a different approach to how she normally imagined it. She loved the innovative ideas Dia brought to her mind and to the bed, everything was sensational and an entirely new experience like never before when it came to Dia’s ideas._

_Her mouth is so close, Maru could feel her breath shake, tumble and turn her insides, it was so close that any longer could push Maru’s mind into insanity, waiting for the pleasure to come, a whole bodied and unique feeling awaited by her._

_Maru wondered whether Ruby felt the same when she did these things to her, or Dia even, was she good at doing it?_

_Did she have godlike and heavenly body parts and technique like her?_

 

“Hahh...you’re drenched with love aren’t you?” Dia voiced after taking a good whiff of Maru’s instinctively gorgeous scent, “You’re alright?”

 

_Make love to me, do me now, sex me up, I want, need you now, give it to me_

 

“I’m f-fine...S-Say my name..”

“Maru, are you ready?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya everyone how you doing? Hope you’re having a fine day as usual, perhaps the next time I post, I have a NozoEli fanfic for y’all, so look forward for that! See you then ;)


	7. Chapter 7: Kanan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanan knows many things but yet again she learns even more.

_Awakened by something bright,  
in a room that was not right, _

_With little thought of last night,  
her eyes opened to daylight. _

_Kanan knew she wasn’t at home, nor could it have been Dia’s. The ceiling seemed so far away, the bed too comfortable and spacious, the air too crisp and void of sea scent. She arose to see an all too familiar room, one furnished with paintings, european furniture, grand chandeliers and candelabras to top it off._

_The maybe not so spotless white sheet fell down revealing to Kanan her apparent clothes-lessness, her breasts bounced in a delightful way that contrasted her mood. Sour, groggy and ashamed, she recalled the events of the previous night leading to her running away, and the after events as well._

_Kanan felt terrible, to be such a contradict, it felt so wrong. But surely this time was just...a series of feelings and events leading to the such and so that happened._

 

“K-Kanan?” Mari yawned tiredly as she wiggled closer to Kanan, she had her head perched on her arm, also exposing the fact that she too lacked any clothing. She looked at Kanan with content eyes, she knew what Kanan had done and she was happy about it.

Mari rubbed her eyes lazily and helped herself to one of Kanan’s own arms to lean on, she had a big grin on her glowy face, and buried her face into her arm with a sleepy giggle. 

_“You were a beast last night.”_

Now she had gone and said it.

 

_‘Ka-Kanan..ahh..fuck..fu-fuck me harder hh.’_

_Mari’s heavy and erratic breathing, her seemingly out of character submissiveness, Kanan venting her frustration through her aggression, her loss of control._

_She wanted to forget what had happened, she didn’t want to admit that she too was like Dia, in fact thinking about her made a wave of sadness loom over Kanan._

_Mari’s exquisite curves, bountiful breasts and very much different smell to Dia, it just made Kanan feel strange, but the her from yesterday couldn’t care less._

_‘Kanan h-how do you like me?’_

_Kanan couldn’t go with it for much longer before they both passed out._

 

Kanan lightly tugged on her arm to get Mari off, unable to look her straight in the eyes. “Mari, I...I should get going now, I might still have a chance to talk to Dia.” She put trying to avoid Mari’s alluring gaze and the subject of last night.

In her peripherals, Kanan could see that Mari had pouted unamused, “Won’t you stay with me for longer?”, Kanan got up from the bed and shook her head, picking up her various pieces of her school uniform that had been tossed all over the surrounding area. She collected and amassed a pile of fallen clothes, all the while facing away from Mari.

Mari took a long sigh before saying anything else, “Look, Kanan, last night was...wonderful but if you’re going to keep pursuing Dia, I...I will respect that.” Kanan looked at the time on her phone, 9:03, thank goodness it was the weekend. She continued to stay silent whilst not looking at Mari. 

She managed to find all her clothes except for her bra, which she turned around to see Mari holding it just arm’s length away from her. Kanan tried to snatch her bra back but Mari continued to bring it away from reach, but managed to grab it with one fell swoop. The blonde sighed defeatedly as Kanan went on to put her clothes on. “Alright fine. Don’t talk it over with her over text, you’re terrible doing that, no, what I mean is meet with her in person.” Mari voiced as she too began to get into some clothes, fitting on a fluffy white bathrobe.

 

_This was awkward, Mari had wanted Kanan for quite some time and actually, she was aware of it. But Kanan had never previously thought of Mari like that, instead she loved Dia and found out as well that she could return her feelings as well._

_From that point on, Mari had been there, just excluded from just the two of them, and that was when Kanan wasn’t sure whether Mari still had her eyes set on her or not._

_From being best friends to seeming intentionally distant, Mari somehow had kept those feelings close to her heart, especially unbeknownst to Dia. Maybe it was something that helped her find purpose in continuing to live, or just a forgotten feeling that reemerged during the previous day._

 

“I’m going to go now Mari, see you at school.” Kanan turned away and walked out of the room. She navigated her way through Mari’s impressive living space, one or two of the sofas had cushions that had ended up on the floor, as well as a conspicuously obvious black object that had looked rather sad by itself, and not being used.

Kanan shook away her bad afterthoughts and called for the lift.

 

_Tired, hungry and unable to understand why Dia would do these things with someone else, Kanan hoped to be able to win her back._

_Win her back..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a short chapter but I like this. I hope as usual you're all having wonderful days, I'm not sure how much I will be able to post since things are gonna get busy soon. But until then, see ya ;)


	8. Chapter 8: Dia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It had been a week since Dia and Kanan had separated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DOUBLE CHAPTER UPLOAD yay
> 
>  
> 
> Hello everyone, I’m sure this is the the time where the ones who go to school get busy with their end of year/actual exams, so am I, but if you don’t see me for a while, at least you have these two chapters!
> 
> sorry this chapters a little short compared to the next one

_A whole week had passed where Dia could only think of Maru and Kanan. The two conflicting thoughts had distracted Dia from doing any of her work properly._

_One minute it would be Maru, bringing Dia excitement, lust and satisfaction._

_Another minute it would be Kanan, bringing Dia sadness, uneasiness and guilt._

_It hurled her into a flurry of confusion and distraction, students would often pass by her and whisper to themselves, what had happened with her? Students whispering lead to conversations, the conversations lead to rumors, and the rumors this time weren’t too ruthless, but eventually the correct one had circulated after it was noted that Kanan had missed school for the past week._

_Much to Dia’s relief, it was going to be the start of the summer break, yes...break._

 

Dia came into Ruby’s room with a shoulder bag in hand, Ruby lay on her stomach reading a magazine on idols. That one idol group named Saint Snow seemed to be blowing up recently, Dia had listened to a couple of their songs, and to say they weren’t your typical idol songs. It was more...Mari-like per se?

Maybe Mari knew how Kanan was doing.

“Ruby I’m going out.” Dia called over to Ruby, she flipped the magazine over to not lose her page. 

“Oh right. See you soon Onee-chan,” Ruby rolled over and continued to read her magazine, “Actually, where are you going?” 

Dia almost froze when her usually quiet sister spoke up, she recovered her face and turned back to Ruby, “I’m going to finish some student council work, that’s all.”

Ruby smiled and got up to hug her sister, she cuddled Dia the kind of cuddle that was just so sweet and heartwarming, Dia pet her on the head in return, “While you’re out can you get the latest issue of Idol Mag?”

Dia chuckled so heartstricken with Ruby’s cuteness overload, in Dia vision, Ruby was the cutest most precious little sister, her adorable ponytails, her just so friggin smolness, and her precious smile, she was practically enveloped in sparkles and rainbows.

 

_Dia on the other hand, she was the opposite of Ruby’s pureness, resorting to steal the lover of her very own little sister was something she was not proud of, but she needed Maru so much, almost like moving her up the priority list._

 

“Byee Onee-chan.” Ruby waved enthusiastically down the hallway to Dia, Dia waved back with the biggest smile she muster, wiping away the expression as soon as she was out of sight.

 

_Now it was the time Dia had been waiting for the whole week, her time to be with Maru, to be with someone who she could share her thoughts and it out and be herself. The one true person who could understand._

 

A sunny but humid day had landed today, just walking to the bus stop had Dia covered with a thin layer of sweat, or maybe it was the thought of seeing Maru again.

However, it felt terrific to sit under the shade and enjoy the soothing sea breeze, it made her feel refreshed and revitalized, ready to see a special person. 

 

_Dia could conquer the world, she could be anything she wanted, she could have anything happen, everything was out of the distance, her head clear of woes, wonders and worries of Kanan, she finally could face what was in front of her. In this elated state, everything felt very possible and frankly, it was settling to feel this high, even when she knew it couldn’t last for so long._

 

Inside her shoulder bag, a bleep sounded alerting Dia to a message, who could it be?

If it was Maru, what kind of message would she send? Perhaps a lovely message with hearts at the end professing her love over and over, or just a reminder of how stunning Maru thought Dia was…

Maybe instead it was Ruby, she would ask for Dia to buy something else apart from that magazine, maybe even send a cutsie little message saying..

_Message from Kanan_

_Kanan...Kanan?_

Dia no longer felt that feeling of being free from her shackles, her joy erased from her face, obliterating her mood, shotgunning it to pieces there was nothing left of that confidence left in Dia now.

She swiped to view the message, and just as she had, the bus she awaited for drove round the corner into view.  
__  
Kanan: let’s talk over dinner  
Kanan: please  
Kanan: on monday night at 7 meet at the usual  
  
The bus arrived to a noisy stop, Dia planted herself under a seat with a strong air flow coming over it, the air conditioner needed to be on at this time because of the sticky weather.

Dia’s thumbs shaked as they hovered above the keyboard, they refused to type a single letter yet she couldn’t bear to leave the message without a reply, it would be against her typical fashion of replying as timely as she could...but what on earth could she say?

The best option was just to leave the message without a reply, it was wiser to leave her options open. That was the best option. That was definitely the best option, she won’t mind, she won’t mind.

_  
The world seemed to toss, turn and tremble, slowly dimming into a deep darkness, as Dia’s sense of right and wrong was tossed further into disorder._

_She was already aware, far too aware, of the consequential things she had done. She paid her high price but somehow Karma wasn’t satisfied with it there, it scratched at her feet, bearing its menacing fangs, glaring its glare of warning._

_Perhaps it wasn’t too late to redeem herself, apologize to Kanan,_

_“It was a misunderstanding.”_

_“Forgive me Kanan.”_

_“It wasn’t what you thought, trust me.”_

_Would it mean her life could go back to normal? Without this weight shackled to her ankle? Be as free as Icarus flying where he willed?  
_

‘Next stop, Numazu Station, Numazu Station.’

Dia didn’t realised she had been boring her eyes so intensely into her phone screen, a sweat drop crashed onto her keyboard, she wiped it away immediately and held down the power button of her phone to switch it off. The joint breaking motion of her thumb swiping from left to right as she drowned the phone of its conscious caused an old lady sitting in the row in front of her to shuffle closer to the windowside.

_  
It was an unwise decision to turn off her phone completely, but it was a compromise to throwing the phone out the window so hard that it landed in the sea, to be washed away and void of its original contents._

_She just wanted to have a lovely date with Hanamaru, a nice time to enjoy her presence, and a comfortable meal to finish it off._

_It couldn’t be exactly those vague, overly complacent words that she envisioned._

_…But she had paid her price, she was going to make this worthwhile, even if it tore the skin off her bones._


	9. Chapter 9: Mari

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mari tries her hardest to sway Kanan to her side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> careful you didn’t miss the last chapter because of the double upload!

_Not enough flags were raised, with Mari being played the fool to satisfy Kanan’s unsettling lust, she was forced to wave her little white flag and retreat. It was some random chance that Kanan would continue with her, a chance too small unfortunately, it made Mari want to slap herself for not trying hard enough._

_Was it her body? Maybe the sounds she made were too vulgar, her pace not good enough?_

_It wasn’t all over, it was just one of those events, make the right choices and the girl is yours! Yes, no bad ending for Mari just yet, this was all apart of progress. Development._

 

A nice flowery summer dress was Mari’s go-to when she needed things done, as everyone would have expected of her, she had multiple of said ‘nice flowery summer dresses’, multiple colours, shades and patterns to perhaps, if she was feeling it, show her emotion (or hide!).

Today white would’ve been too plain, not as expressive as Mari was feeling, just devoid of emotions, too ‘good-girl’.

Red was daring, a passionate, fiery colour that was too expressive, a explosion of eye cancer that was only really ever worn on those nights. But not today.

Blue, well, light blue was pleasant but had an undertone of sadness? Inexplicably that was what Mari’s first thought of blue was, but on second thought, maybe a lighter shade of blue was what Mari was looking for.

She looked around her walk-in closet for _that_ dress, it was bound to be somewhere around here…

In the corner of her eye, a darkish blue strap poked out shyly in front of an expensive black coat, she turned immediately and reunited with the dress, she pulled the dress out to its entirety revealing its pale pastel features that were complemented by the slightly dark blue decorative features.

This was the dress that Fate had chosen to make her wear today, wasn’t it a darling?

 

_Mari ran from her limo as fast as her heels could let her, Kanan was waiting for her near the entrance of the theme park, “Hi Kanan! I see you’re in your usual cool getup as always.”_

_Kanan looked up to greet Mari, “Oh hey Mari—wow! You look...gorgeous in that dress. Did you wear it especially for today?” She blushed a little wondering whether she should have dressed up a little nicer._

_Mari, with a leather clutch in one hand, brushed aside a tuft of her long blond hair aside, “Why yes, today is Kanan’s special day after all.” She smiled at Kanan’s approval”_

_“Haha thank you Mari, I really appreciate it. We should hurry, Dia is waiting for us up ahead.”_

 

Mari put the dress on and stood in front of the mirror, giving a little twirl and watching the dress fly for the smallest moment, the blond bombshell seemed to twinkle in the sun’s warm rays, a perfect wear!

And Mari knew a thing or two about how colours could affect people’s thinking, her father had talked about it a few times upon the design of rooms in the hotel, blue was a trustworthy colour that was encouraging and creative, appropriate for this occasion!

She giggled to herself excitedly, reapplied a fresh new layer of lipstick and opened her doors to the Kanan who had been waiting for her!

Kanan, who had been sitting on a couch near Mari’s bedroom entrance, looked up from her phone, but only seemed to stare distantly at Mari’s dress, giving it a small nod, continuing to bear a restless and anxious look at her phone.

 

_What could be so much more important that Kanan would...would ignore Mari like this?_

 

Mari placed herself daintily next to Kanan, hoping Kanan would _at least_ comment on her dress.

Still no more response from Kanan.

 

_How infuriating!_

 

Mari kept on smiling, “Kanan, now—”

“Shhhh no shhh, I’m _waiting_ for a response Mari.” Kanan’s eyes were still nailed to the screen. 

Mari chose to ignore Kanan’s shushes and override with an even less patient tone, “Kanan won’t you go out with me?” She batted her eyes, for extra effect even if Kanan wasn’t watching her, and put on a more persuasive smile.

Kanan didn’t move or do so much to even make much of a reply, whatever was on her phone was so important huh?

 

_This was it! No more playing nice!_

 

Mari snatched the phone away from Kanan’s hands, who slowly reacted with a frown. Mari giggled as she got her peek at what was on Kanan’s mind. “Mari stop that.”

 

_The contents on Kanan’s phone were simply just a text conversation, messages endlessly filling the right sender side of her screen with mixed words._

_‘dia?’_  
‘are you coming?’  
‘answer me’  
‘hello?’  
‘please say something’  
‘youre coming right?’  
‘dia??’ 

_It was an infinite scroll of messages, at least 10-20 messages every hour, sometimes during sleeping hours, up until the previous morning. It had started with:_

_‘let’s talk over dinner’_  
‘please’  
‘on monday night at 7 meet at the usual’ 

_Not a single reply had been given, in fact the messages under the first 3 had not even delivered at all._

_It was almost disgusting to look at, it made Mari want to throw up looking at just how deep Kanan’s love for Dia was contrasted to what Dia gave back, it couldn’t be called love, that wasn’t true love, her own love was was as true love as love could get._

_Her love was better than this! Yet why? She was so much more willing to surrender herself to Kanan and spoil her with everything she wanted._

_This unhealthy obsession of Kanan’s had gone far enough, she needed a good thorough saving._

 

Kanan dodged Mari’s shocked and repulsed glances, she possesively took her phone back from Mari and put it into her pocket out of sight.

“Kanan...You know she won’t come, I don’t even need to tell you that. You’re smart enough to realise that this is just going to cause you unnecessary worry and pain.”

Mari curled her arm around Kanan’s shoulder, which initially she tried to push away but let her have her way, Kanan tiredly closed her eyes and let herself listen to Mari’s reasoning, “Please Kanan, don’t go, listen to me. Please.”

 

_Don’t be fooled like that, you’ve come over this spell many times. What’s the use of this, the answer is so obvious that it’s staring her right in the face._

_Can’t she stop it already? Come to Mari, yes, just come to Mari and everything will be better Kanan._

_So stop this suffering and give up already!_

 

“I know you two have been so close for so long but...well, sometimes—sometimes relationships don’t work out in the end, it might not have been your fault but if there was any problem in the first place, perhaps it just wasn’t meant to go so well, right?” Mari tried not to show her impatience, but it was getting to her head, she wanted to scream out, perhaps fire one of the maids for being sloppy, and smash a couple of glasses with a hammer.

Kanan shook her head firmly with a sour expression, nudging Mari’s arm so she could stand up away from her. “I’m not going to give up. I’m going and you can’t stop me.” Her posture had straightened up, arms confidently crossed and a determination that was hard to beat.

 

_Time to bring out the big guns. This one was a hard-hitter._

 

Mari sighed tiredly, to at least signal that Kanan was making the wrong choice, and proceeded to go on with saying the one thing she was really saving for a later time. “You know Kanan, I talked to a few people who had seen Dia yesterday, and she was with one of the first-years.” Kanan’s look of resolve washed away, Mari could tell she didn’t want to hear it but her curiosity did. Her confidence seemed to shrink into the previous anxious wreck that she was.

“After talking to some more people, I found out that her name is Kunikida Hanamaru, you may remember her,” she continued, pausing to let the name sink into Kanan, who still wasn’t quite sure. “Gosh Kanan, you can’t even remember the things Dia tells you, Kunikida-san is dating little Ruby! And yes that is present tense.”

Kanan’s neck and jaw were gripped in a sudden tension after she made her conclusion, her tears hit the velvety carpet below her, making a tiny wet patch. 

“Oh dear I hope that doesn’t need to get cleaned.”

 

_Do you need more convincing Kanan? Its case closed, enough...evidence was provided, detective._

 

“I-I’m still—” Kanan stubbornly started, “Kanan, I warned you once and I won’t do it again. It’s all up to you whether you want to bring that upon yourself.”

Mari licked her lips and reapplied another layer of lipstick, her mouth felt dry from all the talking she had done and her fingers were itching to wrap themselves around a cold glass of iced tea. She looked sweetlydo at Kanan and attracted her waning attention, “After a nice glass of iced tea to cool our heads a little, we should go out somewhere, it’s quite a lovely day for it anyway.”

 

_Surely next time Mari wouldn’t end up as a placeholder again, instead, replacing the placeholder to become the real thing, that was sure to happen next time and Mari would be quite satisfied with that result, if not, even more._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you as usual for reading!!


	10. Chapter 10: Ruby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Home alone, Ruby is bored and baking, finding a way to cool herself or entertain herself was unimaginably hard.

Today was the unfortunate day that the air conditioning in Ruby’s room had to break down. Of course the day that the weathermen had forecasted to be ‘one of the hottest days of the year’ it just had to be today. 

Ruby could barely think yet alone move in this sweltering heat, the living room seemed to be more like a dying room, jeez! Ruby had no choice but to station herself in the living room to allow the repairman to fix the air conditioning unit, and all the rooms apart from the bedrooms did not have air con to ‘preserve the traditional feel in the room’ as quoted by her father, which truthfully speaking, didn’t sound like the real reason.

Ruby had thought to herself that maybe it was boredom that made the heat more unbearable. Last night Dia had forgotten to buy the latest issue of Idol Mag for her, which was unusual of her, and that left Ruby scrambling for something to do to. 

She couldn’t go out either as she was technically supposed to keep an eye on the repairman, or well at least give him the payment once he was finished, since all the attendants at the Kurosawa household were tending to their normal duties and couldn’t quite commit to waiting for the repairman. 

Maru had said she was going to be busy this weekend, yet Ruby yearned to hear the voice of her lover, even if it was just for small second, Maru’s calming and smooth voice, especially when she sang in choir, was an orchestra unfolding its grand finale to Ruby’s ears. 

Ruby pulled out her phone and happily dialed Maru, thinking of the possibilities that Maru and Ruby could embark on when they both had the time. 

 

_What did she say she was busy with? Perhaps Ruby could’ve come to help had she known that she couldn’t stay in her home._

_“Uh oh hi Ruby-chan, do you need something?” There she was._

“Hi Hanamaru-chan! I know you said you were busy but is it okay if I come and help or something?”

 _“Oh no it’s...it’s alright. We—uh I’ll be fine, just...helping out with preparations for the festival thats coming up! Haha!”_ Hanamaru seemed nervous, her tone was uneasy, unsure and her hesitation made her not very believable. In fact, she seemed a little out of breath, all the more reason for Ruby to have helped.

“..Then I could have helped.” Ruby made herself sound a little too disappointed than she had meant to, but at least that would help in persuading Maru to let her come, usually Maru didn’t like when Ruby would come out of nowhere, she said that it ‘startled her’ how Ruby would just come unannounced. 

_“No no no uh it’s okay! We’re almost finished so there isn’t much you could help with anyway. Oh! Actually I’ve really got to go! See you tomorrow Ruby-chan.”_

Before Ruby could even mouth anything in return, Maru had abruptly closed the call, leaving Ruby to herself and the heat once again. She sighed boredly as she reread an article on the latest trends in the idol industry from last month for what seemed like the fourth time. 

But this heat...was unbearable…

Ruby got herself to her feet optimistically hoping that the repairman would be close to finishing or finished completely. She speed walked as fast as her little legs could get her back to her room, where the repairman still poked at the organs of the air conditioner.

“Excuse me Mister, are you almost done?” She asked as twinkled with positivity, the repairman, who had just noticed she had been standing there, turned around to face her shook his head, “No Ma’am, this will likely take another half hour plus maybe a couple more minutes to clean this dirty dusty filter!” He laughed wholeheartedly but for Ruby, she was on the verge of melting, she was practically a sad deflated balloon that had run out of air.

Ruby could kill for some air con, just merely fanning herself with a magazine was far too slow for Ruby and the motion of waving the magazine made her more hot than the magazine actually cooling her down in the first place. 

She raked her head for an idea of some way to cool her body down, when a very obvious idea suddenly struck her. 

Dia’s room.

 

_Somehow, Ruby had felt that deep down, her subconscious was blocking the thought of Dia’s room from coming to her mind sooner, and it was a unsettling to think of, why the very room of her responsible, reliable and loving older sister gave her a feeling that made her feel unsure._

_A gut feeling as they say, perhaps Ruby’s own woman’s intuition, whatever it was, it surely wouldn’t stop her from using the air con!_

 

She came into Dia’s room, and as usual, the air was crisp with a faint accent of pine and fresh new tatami mat, the room tidy and orderly, and not a single thing was out of place, so why did Ruby feel worried?

Dia’s room was visibly bigger than Ruby’s, her room consisted of an area where her bed and various her personal matters were nearby the window, closer to the entrance and separated from the bedroom part of her room by a traditional handcrafted room separator with a splendid cherry blossom painting, was a small desk with a two chairs for Dia and a guest, plus some more stools should the number of guests be greater than that. 

It was a little unfair that Dia had gotten such a big room, but it made sense since she was the Kurosawa’s heiress, very rarely when their parents were not present had Dia taken affairs into her own within her power. 

 

_Dia was so much more grown up than Ruby, even if Ruby were to get a small piece of the family heritage, none of the important decisions were going to be made by her anyway, Dia felt more pressure in being a successful, disciplined heiress to the Kurosawa’s small fortune, where Ruby was pushed in that direction just as a backup for Dia, but it clearly wasn’t working out and their parents let Ruby do as she pleased with a few conditions was all._

_Sometimes Ruby wondered why she could never be like her sister, stand like her sister, talk like her sister, everything she could do so much better than Ruby._

 

Ruby felt estranged standing by herself in her Dia’s room, almost slightly...guilty. But mostly reminded of her past with this room.

 

_She was a shadow hiding behind her strong sister, stanced at her back afraid to face that challenging harsh reality of life, viewed as the incompetent, carefree and good-for-nothing younger daughter of the Kurosawa family._

_She often gave up when those things started to trouble her, she would come into this room and ask for help from Dia, tearing up and sobbing in one of the chairs by her desk, whilst Dia would comfort her as best as she could._

 

She shook herself back to the present and in pursuit of a way to relieve herself, she scoured for the key, the air con remote. The air conditioning unit was situated in between the separation so it could blow air to the bed side or the desk side, Ruby had a hunch that it would most likely be in one of the drawers in Dia’s desk, in which after searching them, was not the case and Ruby couldn’t even get hunches right which was disappointing.

Ruby felt even more guilty knowing she would have to go through the bedside locker, and whatever might be inside, she blushed thinking of what Dia could have hidden in there! She giggled embarrassed to herself as she opened it, she found the air con remote and immediately pointed it to the machine as if she were about to point a gun at someone, although Ruby couldn’t even imagine holding a gun, seemed...scary.

Ruby gave herself the right to have a more thorough look through the inside of the drawer, nothing out of ordinary, just some photos of her and Ruby or friends, her phone, a couple of...wait.

Why was her phone here? Didn’t she need it?

Ruby knew being a snoop was bad but maybe Dia had somehow forgotten it, or maybe it was broken? It didn’t turn on when Ruby tapped the screen, maybe it really was broken?!

She tried long pressing it to find it turning on rather normally. Oh.

The phone showed its startup screen and took about half a minute to finish, Ruby was just about to turn it back off when she saw gigantic flow of messages appear endlessly down Dia’s screen.

 

_Ruby no longer sweat from the heat, the sheer tension she could feel seeing these messages appear seeming infinitely made her scared, all the messages were from Kanan asking Dia to respond, it was shocking to see that Dia had gotten this ‘bullying’ from Kanan._

_From the lock screen, Ruby kept scrolling down and down, reading each message until she found a peculiar message that was sent not by Kanan, but by Hanamaru._

_‘Are you almost here yet?’_

_It was sent this morning. No other messages but this one stuck out like a sore thumb amidst Kanan’s barrage of messages, for whatever reason that the had to meet, it was bubbling with suspicion, just why had they met today, especially when Hanamaru had mentioned she was busy during the phone call Ruby had with her mere minutes ago._

_Just what were they doing?_

 

Ruby could feel her heart leap out of her chest, terrified of what was to come should Ruby’s worst fears be true. She was very hesitant to try dialing in Dia’s password, a password that itself should have been a secret to her, petrified to confirm it for herself.

 

_‘160304’_

_Ruby could feel the life draining out of her, she slowly recoiled from shock at the conversation Hanamaru and Dia were having, forget just meeting together today, the two looked to be as close as Ruby was with Hanamaru, if not more._

_She held back intense feelings of panic, betrayal and sadness, for the two people she trusted the most to do this to her, was she really that useless?_

_Going out together, having meals together, making out, ‘I love you’ messages, you name it, all the components of cheating were apparent._

_Ruby shuddered in thought of them having doing the dirty deed, her innocence had escaped her and she was brought to uncontrollable tears, undeniably heartbroken by the brunette’s harsh dismissiveness, pretend busy-ness, and her ultimate betrayal taking her sister behind her back._

 

The tears that had layered over her face made her feel cold, maybe even just the release of emotions left her empty and hopeless. Shattered was her battered heightened perception of the world, how could she face them now?

.

...

…..

 

_Deep inside, Ruby wasn’t ready to give up that easily, buried somewhere inside herself was an unknown determination, a small ray of positivity shone upon her devastation, it was unlike anything she had felt before._

_Maru was hers. She was the first to confess to her, the first to date her, a series of firsts, yet that close connection of theirs had been severed. Their string had been cut, but strings can be tied up together to be repaired. Ruby was going to make her case, she wasn’t a pushover, she wasn’t just some helpless little spoiled girl, she was herself, full of strengths and weaknesses, she was Ruby Kurosawa, the girl who loved Hanamaru Kunikida, the girl determined to get her back._

Ruby wiped the last of her tears, shut off Dia’s phone and put it firmly back into the drawer with a new confidence, what she would do tomorrow would make or break their relationship for good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ganbaruby Ruby! Hello everyone I’m back at it again with a new chapter woohoo! Hope you enjoyed reading and thank you as always!
> 
> I think by now we’re halfway through to story roughly.


	11. Chapter 11: Hanamaru

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being with Dia, Hanamaru is set to visit Ruby afterwards. But before she goes, some questions arise that need some answering.

_Her heart thumped loudly, in synchronization with the other, their paces fast and wild, they made their own tune which they gleefully danced to. It was exhilarating, bursting with emotion and so much more._

_Skin that was so delicate made so moist, hair that was beautiful and flowing made a mess, sounds that were so shy made roaring out loud._

_All of Dia for Hanamaru, and all of Hanamaru for Dia, when they eloped it felt dreamy and whimsical yet so real and raunchy, their bond, feelings for each other, even tighter than themselves._

_How either of them deserved this blissfulness was above them and long gone from their thoughts, they were close enough that guilt hadn’t ridden them as much as before._

 

“It still feels weird to do this at my place, Dia.” Maru sighed as she wiped the sweat from her brow, she took a wary look at the small Buddha statue that stood upon her desk, it didn’t look directly at them on the bed but it still guilted her in the back of her mind.

Dia smiled softly and got up to turn the statue around, “Is that better?”, Maru gave herself another good eyeful of Dia’s elegant body, maybe too much would blind her because of how lovely she was. Dia blushed when she realized Maru was studying her body and made an attempt to cover herself, but only some parts could be covered so she lay herself back down on Maru’s single bed.

“Sorry there’s not a lot of space Dia, well and I’ve only got an electric fan,” Maru apologized for what she lacked compared to Dia, “Well actually, we should have just gone to your place.” 

Dia shook her head in disagreement, and curling her hand around Maru’s face and kissing her lightly on the lips, “This is fine, besides, Ruby is at home and is probably getting ready to see you later.” Dia paused for a second as if she realised something, “She’s not coming here is she? The sheets would smell...of us.”

Maru giggled affectionately keeping her face close to Dia’s, “No, no! Of course not!” They kissed once again fully on the lips followed by Dia trailing her kisses down Maru’s neck. 

Dia stopped and reached for her phone to see the time, it was 7:03pm. Maru was not going to have dinner with Dia as she was going to have it later with Ruby, but Maru didn’t know where she would go after they were to part ways.

“Are you doing something on a Monday night like this one?” Maru reached for Dia to put down the phone and also slid her hand closer to her butt, “Without me especially?” She returned Dia’s kisses with kisses of her own, but ones that had a bit more teeth and tongue, almost as if Maru wanted to mark Dia as her own if she were to go out somewhere.

Dia purred from Maru’s barrage of kisses, she brought Maru closer to her and soon Maru found herself inside Dia’s boobs, she clearly enjoyed it despite not liking having to disguise a hickey. “N-No, I just felt like checking the time in case you had to go, that’s all.”

Maru stopped her kisses to pursue to her, “Really? But you know that I don’t need to go over until like, quarter to eight right?” She looked skeptical of Dia with her lips pouted, but Dia smiled softly again to ensure her, “Yes Maru. I just don’t want you to worry my little Ruby.”

Dia brushed the discarded blanket further away, she brought herself to her knees and placed herself atop Maru.

 

Maru knew she loved and cared for Ruby, but when it turned out that Dia was secretly taking her from Ruby, Dia seemed to ignore it thinking that Maru could keep getting with Ruby so that it wouldn’t hurt her feelings. It was contradictory and slightly selfish that Dia would do this, Maru had wanted to confront Dia about it but it became one of the things that they avoided talking about. So Maru didn’t really know how Dia would cope with this different sort of guilt, perhaps now was a good time to ask.

 

Dia about to suck on Maru’s nipple was stopped when Maru pushed her lightly away, she ceased immediately in case she had done or was about to do something wrong. “Sorry, I just...How do think of Ruby-chan when you’re here with me? Doesn’t that make you feel even guiltier?” Maru asked abruptly, Dia was still above Maru and her expression changed from lustful to a slight scorn, “I don’t think of it. At least, I try not to.”

 

_Maru had been thinking of this for a while, if she were to really go with this relationship, it was best that, in order to not greatly impact Ruby, to perhaps part ways. It was just the best way._

 

Dia tried to proceed what she was about to do when Maru stopped her yet again, it seemed that she was getting slightly impatient and especially unwilling to pursue. “I think I should just break up with her, you and I both don’t want to hurt her right?”

Dia finally gave up and sat herself down next to Maru, “Not just yet, I feel that if you decide to break up with her so suddenly and without good reason, we would just end up hurting her even more.”

 

_Dia was correct and they both knew it, but how did she feel about that? How a girl that loved her dear little sister so adoringly suddenly turn her back on the poor girl, just how she could do that almost scared Maru, it reminded her of how infatuated she used to be with Kanan, but now she was here._

_Dia surely was a good person at heart, but seemed to be quick in satisfying her own desires over gradually moving on, with what had started as a fling between them developed into this and suddenly one and half people were not as important to her now._

_When would Maru be ‘thrown away’ as well? Not long ago, everyone at school would have convincingly viewed Dia and Kanan as a happy couple, the ever so popular and sporty Kanan with the stunning Student Council President Dia together, they were what everyone called ‘ideal’. But a little time passes and it all changes drastically._

 

Dia had sat herself face away from her, but it didn’t bother Maru as she lay still, she cringed thinking about how Ruby would react, and the face she was going to make was not a very pretty one.

Dia’s phone buzzed but before she could reach for it, Maru snatched the phone away to see who would be texting her, almost like feeling she had the right to know.

_Kanan: r u still coming?  
Kanan: i can’t wait much longer please dia_

_Was Dia reconsidering? Maybe now was the time that Dia felt tedious with Maru, and she realised she wanted to go back to Kanan?_

 

“Dia...What is this?” Maru whispered weakly out of slight anguish, Dia took the phone away and upon reading the messages, grabbed Maru’s hands and shook her head furiously, “No, no! This is a misunderstanding! Let me explain, please.”

 

_Why was this so upsetting when Maru had been ‘the other one’, she should have expected this, they probably only needed some space and once Dia was done, they would be back together before summer break even ended. This is what was happening, this is what Maru deserved!_

_And she would go back to Ruby, with lingering feelings yet again, and it would be as if nothing happened at all!_

_Nothing!!_

 

“Maru I didn’t tell you this but Kanan wanted to talk to me after what happened, please listen!” Dia tried desperately to reassure Maru, who has about to break into tears.

“I-I was going to ignore her. I’m not going to that dinner, Maru. I swear, please. Don’t cry.” Dia fondled Maru keeping her close to hopefully calm Maru down.

 

_So it wasn’t going to happen. But, for Kanan to be stood up by Dia, it revealed something about Dia that Maru had not yet known._

_A person such as herself not listening to reason and deciding to ignore it in favour of her own desires._

_She was a good and bad liar. Yet Maru was going to believe this._

 

“Okay, I’ll believe you. That it was only for her to talk to you.” She looked down upon Dia’s body as she was still being cuddled by her, she was quite uncertain of what Dia was thinking but a little kiss on her forehead seemed to be reassuring to her as well.

“Thank you Maru.” Dia started as her hands went to other places, but unfortunately for their fun time, Maru had to go and get ready to see Ruby. “Dia see you soon.” She raised her voice a little louder so that she would be heard in the bathroom, where she twisted the faucet to allow water to come gushing into her bathtub, ready for her to bathe in.

Maru couldn’t quite hear what she said in return but a few seconds later she came in dressed, well, minus a shirt and kissed Maru goodbye for the night. She waved before she headed toward the doorway and eventually she heard the door outside being closed shut. 

 

_Now where was she going to go? Home? Or...no, she said she wouldn’t._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well well well hello everyone who still reads this story of mine, as usual thank you for reading! I hope I can work a little faster for the next chapter where things get a little more...hectic.


	12. Chapter 12: Kanan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanan awaits Dia at dinner losing hope as time goes by.

_Every second was long, every minute was longer and more sweat trailed down her neck, the air conditioning was barely blowing, her glass was constantly being refilled by the waiters, it never reached halfway before it would be filled up almost to the rim of the glass._

_She was hungry, yet insisted on waiting before eating many times to the insistent staff that knew her well. Even after a bread basket and two, she persisted._

_Somewhere in the restaurant a voice could be heard saying “Hasn’t she been here for half an hour? Who is she waiting for?”_

_“Has she been stood up?”_

_“What kind of guy would do that? She’s so good looking.”_

 

Kanan could feel herself slowly losing it. Her finger tapped anxiously on the table or her hands clenched tightly on the armrests or texting a message out of worry.

“Matsuura-san, are you sure you don’t want to order some pasta, pizza?” The old manager who owned the Italian restaurant asked trying not to get on Kanan’s nerves, “You have been here a while Matsuura-san, bread will not keep you full.” He knew from the many times that she had come here with Dia or Mari that she was one with a sizeable appetite.

“No, please I’ll be fine.” Kanan tried to avoid having to talk about it with the manager, she was also wary of the other customers whispering about her or sneaking piteous looks at her, as well as the fact that she was in a rather emotional state having difficulty holding back a tear. Sooner enough, the manager walked away still concerned to serve some other customers. 

 

_Why did she do this to herself? She sent all those messages, called numerous times, all returned to the mailbox, she struggled so hard for Dia to come back, yet she just wouldn’t listen._

_A very small part of Kanan, one that was tucked to the back of her thoughts, knew all this time that it wouldn’t work but Kanan had upheld this sense of righteousness that eluded her into thinking that Dia would come back to her senses and do the right thing._

_Dia, as Kanan had known her, was similar in thinking to her, she tried to consider the benefits and risks of an action, she was smart in knowing many things, of course, she was a living breathing representation of the Kurosawa family, anything she did would not tarnish the family’s reputation._

_Dia, as she acted recently to Kanan’s knowledge, had betrayed Kanan for someone else, not giving a proper apology, and acting out of rationale. Disturbingly different from what Kanan had perceived._

_Her behaviour could not be explained by Kanan, and the further she delved upon it, the more she wanted to drive her fist into the table._

 

The door of the restaurant opened and Kanan could only hear it as the door shook a bell when it was opened, in came a blond figure who made a straight beeline sashay for Kanan. 

Kanan, still deep in woe, did not see the approaching figure, until she slammed her hands on the table, spilling some of the water out of Kanan’s glass and shocking a few of the customers. 

Whispers followed the scene like gossip going around a close-knit neighbourhood. 

_“Is that who she’s been waiting for?”_

_“Why did she slam her hands on the table, my ears hurt…”_

_“Hey she’s pretty too, does that mean that hot chick is a lesbian?”_

Mari turned around and gave everyone talking a good stern look in the eye before clapping her hands together, she raised her voice to make a much need announcement, “Come on people, mind your business.”

Kanan’s attention moved to Mari, but still kept her eyes averted. A few young guys continued to stare in their direction, “Oh what so did you come here to talk shit on my girl here? I could buy this restaurant and in just a couple of minutes, I can kick you guys out!” Mari snapped ticked off at their rudeness, to which they continued to eat. “Good, enjoy your food while you can.”

Mari redirected her attention back to Kanan, who couldn’t help but smile at Mari’s support, “Thank you Mari.”

“No-no, Kanan I didn’t even say anything yet. Dia is not coming and you know that.” She shifted her hands on Kanan’s closest hand, but the latter persisted in holding her gaze low, “Kanan you’re wasting your time here and you’re making a mess of yourself as well!” 

 

_Kanan had awaited this day, or rather, this moment for so long, what if she came while she had left?_

_This was why she could not leave. Not yet._

 

Mari sighed impatiently silently cursing to herself, she waved around and shouted out to any of the wait staff who could hear, “Excuse me! We’ll get the usuals. Oh, and take out please!” to which the muffled manager replying from elsewhere in restaurant said “Right away Ohara-san!”

_“Ohara…? Is she?”_

_“Woah I think we’re staying in her hotel.”_

_“No wonder she’s acting like that.”_

Mari snickered with pride to herself like she usually did when she felt a little justice had been done. 

Kanan looked up at her wondrously, gasping at why she would do such a thing, “I’m staying here Mari. I want to be here when Dia comes.” Kanan had such a determined look that Mari couldn’t help but giggle, “If she comes, which she isn’t. Would she really come after an hour of the meeting time?”

Kanan shook her head in possibility, “But what if…”

“And you know Dia is always on time.” Mari was trying to tap her foot discreetly, but from Kanan’s view she could see it, Mari was very persuasive.

“But I don’t think I even know her anymore, maybe she’s just—”

“Kanan are you listening to yourself right now? Just come home with me. Please?”

 

The rich smell of fresh Uchiura seafood linguine started to seep into the girls’ noses, a loud groan of Kanan’s stomach had reminded of her of how much of an appetite she gained while waiting in stress.

Their dinner had been put into a polystyrene box, the sort that Kanan had often tried to avoid as she would sometimes see them appear in the sea, and had been given with a plastic fork and spoon. Much to the dismay of Mari’s personal chef, who had insisted on cooking them a more fulfilling dinner for them, they continued to use what the restaurant had given them. 

Kanan sat opposite of Mari near the end of Mari’s grand dining room table able to seat 10 people, she tried to eat mostly in silence but occasionally would make a loud slurping noise when eating trying to suck up the linguine.

 

_It wasn’t that Kanan was mad at Dia, in fact, she had calmed down after the car ride to the hotel, she found it awkward that she had gotten less sulky after eating. So to make it seem that it was still in her mind, she stayed quiet and tried to avoid eye contact with Mari._

_But it occured to Kanan that perhaps maybe she was just...overreacting. And that she should just get over the fact that Dia loves someone else._

_Sure, it was petty the way she had been acting but even if she let her go, she would somehow feel that it was the wrong decision, just as she was feeling now._

 

Mari giggled at one of Kanan’s louder slurps commenting as she saw through Kanan’s façade, “You can’t still be angry about Dia can you?” She gave an all seeing sort of look when Kanan’s eyes finally met hers.

“No...I’m not going to give up...yet.” Kanan held stronger will in her eyes to shield her doubts, but it proved not to be effective against Mari. “Oh dear Kanan, I can see your battery draining low, you’re losing hope. And I totally understand.” Said Mari with her usual sense of inflated dignity.

Kanan started to grit her teeth from annoyance, she wanted to dismiss Mari and her crude claim, but she couldn’t defend herself from Mari.

Mari finished up her linguine and wiped a trace of seafood sauce by the corner of her mouth with a neatly folded napkin. She set it away and leaned from her chair closer toward Kanan.

“I understand what you feel because I’ve been feeling it for such a long time,” Mari rested her head upon her hands which her elbows had been perched upon the table. “I’m sure you knew all this time Kanan, but I’ve always loved you.” Mari’s voice had gone lower, pronouncing her apparent seriousness.

“When you chose _Dia_ over _me_ , this is how I felt. And sat here for days in this very room thinking how fucked up our friendship was. You two started to date and soon it was all ‘Best Couple’, ‘Best Match’, ‘Most Likely to Become a Successful Couple’ shit. And I sat here for many more days thinking I had no chances under the shadow your image cast.” Mari’s tone started to get more enraged, but managed to keep her cool.

She picked up her fork and twirled it around one of the stray linguine strands on Kanan’s container, and inserted it meticulously into her mouth, trying to savour its taste. Kanan however, was almost at her peak level of annoyance, yet stayed silent as ever.

 

_So what Mari? You left us for a while after that, you didn’t even try to stay friends with us, we would have been just fine!_

 

Mari continued after putting her fork down, “But now, I have a chance, and Kanan I am not letting it go.” She got up from her chair and went toward Kanan’s side.

 

_Now what is it that she wants?_

 

“I want you. For myself.” Mari bent over giving Kanan a hug from her side, taking in the smells and feelings that she so obsessively needed from Kanan. Kanan could feel her heart pacing faster, she stood up from her place breaking free of Mari’s grip, surprising Mari a tiny bit.

“Hey, come on now Kanan. Please?” Mari groaned restlessly and pouted innocently, but before Kanan could give her response, Mari had pounced on her getting in a kiss. Kanan found it hard to brush off as Mari took advantage of her downed guard to lock their lips.

Mari’s kisses were hurried and aggressive, her lips made themselves forcefully onto Kanan’s and soon her tongue followed suit. 

Kanan soon found her pushing Mari onto the table beside where they had been eating, needing even more space, Kanan lifted Mari onto the table out of instinct and carried on accepting Mari’s fierce kissing.

It happened quickly and soon Mari’s hands had found their way on the first button of Kanan’s shirt.

 

_No!_

 

Realising what it had come to you, Kanan stopped Mari from going further and stepped away out of breath. “No, I’m sorry Mari. I’m not giving up on Dia yet.”

Kanan turned away and retrieved her stuff and quickly left before Mari could muster any response. She walked quickly out of the penthouse and down the hotel’s elevator, wiping her mouth and fixing her messed appearance. She scurried out of the lobby hoping not to attract attention from the staff, as she exited the premise, she took one last look at the balcony at the top of the building.

She continued in a hurry and never looked back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiii everyone, it has pretty much been a month since I last posted and I'm terribly sorry for that since there were a few reasons for that. But anyhow, the usual the usual, hope you enjoy reading and probably you can see the story ending soon within a few chapters...so stay tuned.


	13. Chapter 13: Dia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dia arrives home to find that Ruby has found out.

The evening had settled in for quite a while when Dia decided to return home. She had been sitting quietly on the beach contemplating her situation, thinking over and over of the events of the past, present and future.

 

_Kanan’s texts had stopped dead two hours ago._

_Of course Dia subconsciously knew that she wasn’t going back to Kanan, but now it occurred to her that she could never go back after this._

 

It was getting to the later hours of the day, Dia had not told anyone of her actual whereabouts so she hastened in her return, however, even in darkness, the beach had a certain charm to her that drawed her in.

 

_The waves frolicked to and fro with a peaceful momentum, the moon shyly shone behind a tree, casting a peculiar shadow, almost devious and distorting._

 

Dia felt unsettled by the shadow, and so quickened her pace away from the beach and the tree in question.

 

It wasn’t long until she reached her home, the grand mansion stood with it’s refined, dignified and traditional feel, ideally the sort of air the architects who designed it wanted from many years ago. It stood unyielding to the emotions and thoughts that Dia brought to toward it.

By this time, Maru should have already left, and the only Kurosawa in the household was Ruby.

She entered the grounds and was swiftly greeted by an attendant who had been awaited her arrival. Dia told the attendant to prepare something for her to eat as she had not eaten dinner having skipped having dinner with Kanan.

While her supper was being prepared, Dia went to Ruby’s room to greet her, only to find that she was not present in her room. 

“Oh...hey Onee-chan, you’re back late.” Came the little sister’s voice from behind, where she wiped her damp hair with a towel. Dia grinned from the sight of her adorable little sister and gave her a cuddle. “Ruby, make sure you dry your hair properly okay?” Dia, as she usually did, said preemptively making sure Ruby didn’t catch a nasty cold.

Ruby crossed her arms defensively, “Yeah I know, did you not have dinner outside?”

Dia nodded guiltily, “Yes, I didn’t.”

Ruby’s hands held onto her towel with a strange tension in them, “I need to talk to you Onee-chan.” Ruby’s eyes shifted nervously but she still kept her cool.

“What do you want to talk about?” Dia said carefully having a suspicion on what the subject the Ruby was to bring up was. Her eyebrow was raised and her eyes squinted.

Ruby hesitated and turned away slightly, “Actually, I...I-ll tell you later.” She dashed into her room with her face shielded by her hands, after which she closed the door quickly behind her before Dia could protest.

 

_Dia was weary of Ruby had to say, whatever it was, Ruby didn’t seem to want to talk about it too much._

_She had just been with Maru earlier...what if she figured out that Maru had been cheating on her? Maybe she even knew that who she was cheating with was Dia herself!_

_But maybe it wasn’t that, but if it wasn’t then what was it?_

_Dia was itching to know._

 

Dia closed herself in a bathroom where she doused her face with water to stop her needless worrying.

 

_What is it that you have to say Ruby? What is it? Do you know already?_

 

Dia’s paranoia was starting to get out of hand when she heard a knock on the bathroom door, “Dia-sama, your dinner is finished preparing, we will send it to your room for your convenience.” 

 

_Surely not. Surely not. Surely. Not._

_The invisible shackles around Dia’s limbs loosened as her paranoia began to fade away, her calm had recollected and she washed the rest of the troubling thoughts away._

_It was difficult to keep putting food into her mouth when she wasn’t able to fully control her shakiness in front of Ruby._

_Rather than talk about it immediately, the smaller girl simply sat opposite of Dia, consistently inisisting on her finishing her late supper, but her words had a dreadful weight to them that Dia could feel._

 

“Onee-chan, don’t worry, I’ll wait.”

 

_Ruby’s eyes were placing their heavy glare upon her, so strong her hair would be singed. The rest of the room was closing in on her, slowly, slowly, it was suffocating her._

 

“Onee-chan, are you alright?” Ruby had come over to Dia, stricken with concern as her sister’s colours started to pour out of her. “I haven’t even said anything...but I think you already know what I’m going to say.”

Dia nodded nervously as she loosened her collar and pushed her plate away, she attempted to stand up but Ruby pushed her back down with significant force. “Onee-chan, I didn’t think you would lie to me.”

 

_Ruby had this side to her that was mostly unbeknownst to everyone, much contrasted to her usual shyness, it was a hidden dominance that perhaps she had as a Kurosawa, but only showed itself when she felt unjustly treated._

_For Dia to face this Ruby, she had found her chains and started to wrap them tighter._

 

“First of all, you lied to me,” Ruby continued with an awfully serious and scary tone, she dropped Dia’s phone back onto the table and tapped it while tutting her, “You were cheating with Hanamaru behind my back, and you’re supposed to be my sister. I can’t believe you would do this to me.”

  
_‘Can’t believe you did that to her.’_  
_‘She’s terrible. Awful.’_  
_‘What is wrong with you?’_  
_Reverse-infidelity fear?’_  
_‘What kind of things do you think they did?’_  
_‘Who knew…’_  
_‘Look at all the people she’s hurt.’_  


_____ _

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry Ruby! Please forgive me! It was my idea, please forgive me!” Dia pleaded fearing for what would could ensue if she did not at least offer an apology. Her head bowed down to Ruby for a short while, but no reply followed so she looked up to see Ruby with more sorrow in her face rather than the subtle angriness she held in her from before.

__

“Onee-chan...please don’t do this again, you’ve hurt Kanan-chan as well as me. Can you please just keep away from other people’s lovers?” Ruby placed her hand on Dia’s hoping her message, or rather, warning came across.

__

_  
But if not Maru, who was she to love and be loved by? The urges on which reality had taken in had now put the consequences into effect._

__

_Dia had heard the words from Maru, she loved Dia, seemingly more than she had Ruby, she felt her feelings, they couldn’t possibly be fabricated, they were just proof of Dia’s deserving of Maru, right?  
_

__

Ruby gave her sister a much needed hug and kissed her on the cheek, walking away presumably to her room after the confrontation. 

__

Dia looked behind herself making sure she was gone, and as fast as she could, reaffirmed her love to Maru.

__

_You: Maru, I love you. Do you love me?_

__

She eagerly awaited her response, and was met with a timely reply.

__

_Maru: Of course I do..._

__

Unsatisfied with that answer she persisted.

__

_You: Tell me the words._

__

To which she received,

__

_Maru: I love you. Why do you suddenly ask?_

__

Dia felt waves of relief roll over her, she took the moment to take a deep breathe and calm herself.

__

_You: Because you’re mine._

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took way to long for me to write! I didn’t have a great deal of free time. But I hope to wrap these series up in a few more chapters! Hope you enjoyed reading thus far! As always, thank you.


	14. Chapter 14: Ruby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby wants to get her message out to Hanamaru.

_It was always fun and games._

 

“One mikan parfait and…”

Ruby sighed at the fact she need to repeat what she wanted to Hanamaru for the fourth time, “Strawberry parfait.”

“Ah yes, one strawberry parfait. Thank you.”

 

_This could have been prevented._

 

The waitress serving them repeated their order, and whilst thanking them, sensed the strange tension that emanated from their table. She slipped silently away to plug in the order.

Maru, apart from being slightly distracted, was acting relatively normal, or at least, the way she normally acted in front of Ruby whilst on a date. 

 

_Had you chosen faithfully, it wouldn’t have come to do this._

 

Their uneasy silence settled uncomfortably between them, Maru’s eyes were elsewhere except on Ruby, the latter couldn’t help but feel the avoidance from her.

“Hanamaru-chan…”

 

_It is hard to say but there’s no other choice._

 

The light brunette’s attention reluctantly switched to Ruby, they showed little fear nor happiness, in fact, they were too clouded to even tell.

“Why are you secretly dating my sister?”

The big question dropped and it appeared as if the whole restaurant had hushed silent in anticipation for what was to come.

 

_Enough with the silence!_

 

“You can’t fool me anymore Hanamaru-chan,” Ruby bore down on Hanamaru, interrogating her like an eagle with its prey in sight, “At least, let me prove myself to you.”

Maru’s eyebrows raised in uncanny interest yet her face remained unchanged from its strained gloom, she gulped restless and shaky gulp, she was clearly in a state of conflict.

 

_Listen to me now. Please, just listen to me for why you made the wrong choice._

 

Ruby closed her eyes taking in a deep breath, formulating what she was to say as she stood strong, as contrasted to her usual shyness outside of non relationship matters.

“You don’t realise how much you’ve done for me Hanamaru-chan, before we met when we were little,” Ruby paused hesitantly but inertly urged herself to keep up her strong front as she allowed her memories to spill into the girl in front of her, “I...I was so shy, I could hardly speak for myself and I couldn’t manage eye contact so well.” 

Ruby eyes sustained their full attention onto Maru, who listened precariously with jitteriness that in all ways could have been interpreted as her panic.

 

_I’m not done yet. Oh no, keep listening._

 

“Do remember the times where my eyes kept their gaze down, never looking up at any stranger’s face on the road for more than a second? And talking with them? How much I struggled? Well, you helped me, no, you guided me out of a suffocating and scary corner of the world, to see the better things in life that I missed.” Ruby was beginning to feel emotional, it was indeed something that had truly changed her life for good, if not for Hanamaru, she couldn’t dare imagine how’d she be like today. 

Maru hummed in agreement, she of all people should be aware. Her muscles still tensed and every now and then, she would look over at the kitchen area looking for the parfait that had yet come.

“Without you, I would still be stuck at the bottom of a dark staircase, but you helped me take the first step, you taught me many things which I’ve come to be grateful for. Hanamaru-chan, you...I met you and my life turned upside down. Without you, God knows what kind of person I would be today. You’ve done so much for me and—and I can only truly pay you back with my love.”

Ruby’s ‘calm and collectedness’ was dematerializing, her pleas and cries had shaken the very space of the restaurant. Concerned looks catapulted themselves over to their booth, Maru herself had caught hold of these glances and was beginning to get wearily distracted by the unwanted attention she was receiving.

 

_Not yet! Not yet, not yet, not yet!_

 

“I don't’ think you ever _really_ gave me that chance. Our time. My time. I was in the spotlight for a second and then came Onee-chan... _please_...I can only give you my love. Give me that chance, I beg of you.”

Ruby’s eyes were moist, after all this time, she had forever longed for the feeling she had once felt afore, restlessly yearning for those wonderful amber eyes to look only at her once more.

She couldn’t help but ironically retract into her shell, giving out her piteous excuse, “I’m going to the bathroom.” and escaping by herself to the restroom.

She dashed hazardly into the same waitress carrying their parfaits, who was relieved that the parfaits did not go down with her salary, Ruby murmured a soft ‘Sorry.’ and shut herself into the furthest toilet from the doorway. 

She collapsed onto the cold, hard tiled floor, curling herself up in as her eyes bled tears.

 

_What was the point of it all?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg this fic is like a year old I’ve been so slow so firstly I’m sorry for this really! late upload, while uploading may not have been regular before, don’t expect then to be! I am working to get this fic finished which is around 4-5 more chapters I think. Secondly, this chapter is quite short, especially considering how inactive I’ve been. I am sorry for that but please bear with me. If you’ve still been reading thus far, thank you so much!!


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